Special CBI Judge Ravinder Kaur sentenced Assistant Accounts Officer Jay Prakash Singh of the Principal Controller of Defence Accounts (Navy) office, saying "the corruption at any level by any person of any magnitude cannot be ignored".
"It is pertinent to mention here that the person in the net of the law and held guilty may not be a first-time corrupt. Such persons may have been indulging in corrupt activities for a number of years, but not caught earlier," the court said and also imposed a fine of Rs 20,000 on him.
The case dates back to August 31, 2007, when Manager Ramesh Kumar of Balaji Services lodged a complaint with the CBI alleging that Singh had been demanding from him a bribe of Rs 9,000 for giving him the cheque against payment for hiring buses from the firm, engaged with the Navy on contract basis.
He also alleged that on August 30, 2007 when he met the accused in the office of Controller of Defence Accounts (CDA) here, and requested him to prepare the bill for the amount of Rs four lakh for the month of May and June 2007, Singh demanded Rs 9,000 as commission for clearing the current and the previous months' bills.
The CBI had said its team had caught Singh red handed, while Kumar was paying him the bribe.
During the trial Singh's counsel had contended that his client was falsely implicated. (More)