A senior official of the Mercantile Marine Department was today sentenced to one year rigorous imprisonment by a CBI court here for criminal misconduct by facilitating malpractice by two candidates in the Engineering and Ship Survey exam in 2005.
Additional special judge for CBI cases K Paramaraj also imposed a fine of Rs 4,000 on MMD Chennai's Engineer and Ship Surveyor-cum Deputy Director General (Tech) T V S Sarma.
CBI had registered a case based on an allegation that Sarma, an examination in-charge of Engineering and Ship Survey Exam conducted by MMD, conspired with two candidates and helped them manipulate their answer sheets.
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Investigations revealed that Sarma facilitated the manipulation by fraudulently removing the answer sheets of these candidates, which were in his custody, and handing them over to candidates, a CBI release said.
The candidates erased the pencil marked portions and inserted the correct answers, for which Sarma had demanded and accepted a total bribe of Rs 5,15,000 from them, it said.
Since the two candidates turned approvers during investigation, they were not sent for trial, it added.
CBI filed a charge sheet against Sarma under various sections of Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.