Ahmedabad, July 21 (IANS) A Special CBI court on Monday sentenced a former railway official in Gujarat to 3 years’ rigorous imprisonment (RI) with a fine of Rs 1 lakh in a case related to the offence of demanding and accepting illegal gratification of Rs 5,000.

The Special Judge sentenced Harish Kishore Gupta, the then Divisional Engineer (C), Bhavnagar Para, DRM Office, Western Railway, Bhavnagar, for demanding a bribe from a contractor.

The CBI said the bribe was sought as a consideration for issuing a work order amounting to Rs 19.91 lakh and to consider the extension of time for the completion of the contract allotted to the contractor on March 10, 2010.

Gupta was arrested on July 16 after searches were conducted at his residence and office.

The CBI registered the case on July 15, 2010, on allegations that Gupta had demanded and accepted an illegal gratification of Rs 5,000 from the complainant contractor.

After investigation, a chargesheet was filed on June 29, 2011, against Gupta for the offence of demanding and accepting illegal gratification and criminal misconduct committed by the accused public servant.

In a separate case, the CBI arrested a Proclaimed Offender involved in a Rs 12.63 crore Syndicate Bank fraud case registered in 2009.

Proclaimed offender Nasreen Taj was arrested on July 19 and produced before the Competent Court at Bengaluru, which remanded her to judicial custody for the purpose of further trial proceedings. The accused is presently undergoing trial, having remained absconding for a period of nearly seven years.

The CBI narrowed down on Taj through the deployment of advanced technological tools and identity-tracking databases.

The probe agency meticulously analysed the digital footprint of the absconding accused to ascertain her current identity and location. Supplemented by extensive field investigations and on-ground inquiries, the CBI team successfully located Taj in Bengaluru, where she was living under the false name of Salma.

Taj had deliberately severed contact with her spouse, family members, and social network and frequently changed residences. She had misled the local residents as well as the employer about her real identity and had maintained minimal interaction with locals, further hindering efforts to trace her.

Earlier, she had fraudulently availed a Temporary Overdraft (TOD) facility of up to Rs 120 lakh, along with farm loans amounting to Rs 55 lakhs from Syndicate Bank.

The CBI said the proceeds from these farm loans were illicitly diverted by her towards the repayment of the TOD, instead of utilising it for agricultural development, as mandated under the terms of the sanction.

–IANS

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