A superintendent of Central Excise has been sent to a year in jail by a Delhi court for demanding a bribe of Rs 7.5 lakh bribe from the CEO of a construction company to settle a show cause notice issued to it by the department.
Special CBI Judge Rajiv Mehra awarded the jail term to east Delhi resident Ravinder Mohan, who was working as a Superintendent of Central Excise division in Haryana's Sonepat area.
"Now a days corruption is deep rooted in our society. It is almost unchecked and uncontrolled. The greed is limitless. Everyone wants quick and easy money and they do not mind even if the same is by unlawful means. It is indeed deplorable. It is making the whole system paralysed and putrefied," the court observed.
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The court held Mohan guilty under the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act relating to public servant abusing his official position and demanding and accepting illegal gratification and also imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on him.
The court, however, allowed Mohan's plea to suspend his jail term till April 28 on furnishing a bail bond of Rs one lakh to enable him to file an appeal against his conviction and sentence.
According to CBI, Mohan had allegedly made an illegal demand of Rs 7.5 lakh from Delhi-based company, DRS Rooftech and Infrastructure (P) Ltd which is engaged in fabrication of roofing structure at consumer site.
A complaint was lodged by the firm's CEO J S Ahluwalia that in 2008, his company was awarded the work of fabrication of roofing structure at the site of Hindustan Tin Works in Sonepat and thereafter the work was started.
A show cause notice was issued to the company and its managing director in December 2009 by the Central Excise, Rohtak, with the allegation that the firm has contravened the provision of Central Excise Act 2002 and it was liable for penal action under the Act.
CBI said that on January 10, 2010, Mohan had called Ahluwalia in his Shakarpur house here demanding a bribe of Rs 7.5 lakh within three days for settling the show cause notice through his contacts in Central Excise Office, Rohtak.
Ahluwalia had approached CBI which laid a trap and Mohan was caught while accepting the money and Rs 1.5 lakh in cash was recovered from him.
During the trial, Mohan had claimed that he was innocent and had been falsely implicated in the case.
