Ex-MCD councilor gets five-year jail in corruption case

A former councilor of Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) was today sentenced to five years in jail by a special CBI court for taking a bribe of Rs 20,000 from a shopkeeper here in 2003.
The court also awarded one year jail term to Subhash Chander Jain, who had conspired with Hiren Tokas, the then MCD councilor of ward number 15 in R K Puram here.
Besides the jail term, special CBI judge Madhu Jain also imposed a fine of Rs 25,000 and Rs 5,000 respectively on Tokas and Jain.
The court held Tokas guilty for the offences punishable under provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

Tokas and Jain were convicted for the offence under section 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC.
According to CBI, Tokas was a MCD councilor in 2003 and he had conspired with Jain to demand illegal gratification of Rs one lakh from Lalit, a shopkeeper, for influencing municipal corporation officials for not getting his alleged illegally constructed shop demolished.

The agency had said that the amount was reduced to Rs 50,000 and on March 9, 2003, Tokas had accepted the bribe of Rs 20,000 as first installment from Lalit's brother.
During the arguments on quantum of sentence, the counsel appearing for both the convicts pleaded for leniency in the court.

CBI prosecutor V K Sharma, however, opposed their contentions saying the convicts do not deserve any sympathy as despite holding a public office, Tokas demanded bribe and betrayed the trust reposed in him by public.
After the court pronounced the order on sentence, Jain moved an application seeking bail to file an appeal against the order.
The court granted him bail on a personal bond of Rs 30,000 with one surety of like amount.