Kurnool, Dec 8 (IANS) A Special CBI Court in Kerala sentenced an official of the South Central Railway to a two-year jail term for taking a bribe of Rs 15,000 for releasing a contractor’s pending bill worth Rs 30 lakh, an official said on Monday.

The Special CBI Court at Kurnool convicted and sentenced Challa Sreenivasulu, an Accounts Assistant, posted in the office of Senior Divisional Finance Manager at the South Central Railway’s Guntakal Division in Andhra Pradesh’s Guntakal to undergo two years’ rigorous imprisonment (RI) with a fine of Rs 20,000 in a bribery case.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) registered the case swiftly on November 2, 2017, an official statement said.

It was alleged that Sreenivasulu demanded a bribe from the complainant for processing the bill pertaining to the contract work done by him from July 2017 to September 7 for Rs 30 lakh and also for previously sanctioned bills.

The CBI laid a trap and caught the accused red-handed while demanding and accepting a bribe of Rs 15,000 from the complainant.

After investigation, the CBI filed chargesheet against the accused on March 29, 2018.

Last week, the CBI, in a separate case, secured two-year jail terms for two postal officials in a Rs 27 lakh fraud dating back to 2017.

A Special CBI Court in Hyderabad sentenced two postal department officials who misappropriated Rs 27.27 lakh during demonetisation to two years’ RI along with a fine of Rs 65,000 each, an official said on Tuesday.

The Special CBI Court sentenced Adapa Srinivas, the then Postal Assistant (Treasurer), and U. Rajyalakshmi, the then Postal Assistant, of Humayun Nagar Sub-Post Office at Hyderabad, Telangana.

The two were held guilty of breach of trust and cheating and sentenced to undergo two years’ RI with a fine of Rs 65,000 each.

The CBI registered the case on August 31, 2017, based on a written complaint of the Senior Superintendent of Post Offices, Hyderabad City Division.

It was alleged that Srinivas and Lakshmi entered into a criminal conspiracy between November 10, 2016 and November 24, 2016 at the time of demonetisation of old currency notes and in pursuance of the same, they fraudulently exchanged Withdrawn Old Series of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 denomination currency notes with new currency notes worth Rs 27,27,397 without receiving required Annexure-II forms and falsified the records to cover up the misappropriation.

–IANS

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