Woman official, CA land in jail in bribery case

In a bid to deter Government officials and professionals from indulging in corrupt activities, a city court on Tuesday jailed a woman government official and a Chartered Accountant, both involved in a bribery case.
While the Assistant Sales Tax Officer Ved Prakash Kukreja (56) had accepted a bribe of Rs 1,500, the chartered accountant Ashish Garg (34) was held guilty for giving the said bribe amount. Special Judge BR Kedia sentenced Kukreja and Garg to three years and two years’ rigorous imprisonment respectively. In addition to the jail term, the judge also slapped a fine of Rs 20,000 each on them.
While sentencing the duo, the judge observed, “Professionals like doctors, engineers and CAs are held in high esteem in the eyes of the general public. They are not supposed to indulge in any such modalities of corruption. They are supposed to render their professional duties by exercising their specialised skill and knowledge. However, the present case displayed the offering of bribe by Garg to Kukreja on behalf of Shivalik Enterprises.”
The duo were caught red-handed on March 16, 2006 by the police after they raided Kukreja’s office on receiving information that bribe officers of Sales Tax department were taking bribe for settlement of the case files due to closing of the financial year. The raiding team saw Garg giving a white envelope to Kukreja. The white envelope contained Rs 1,500.
Upon interrogation, Garg told the police that he was a representative of Shivalik Enterprises and had visited Kukreja for final assessment of sales tax file of the company. While convicting Kukreja, the court rejected the defence’s claim that proper sanction was not taken for her prosecution saying, “Sanction was validly granted by the appropriate authority for Kukreja’s prosecution.” The defence counsel pleaded for leniency for Kukreja citing her old age and neurological disorder. Garg’s counsel also pleaded leniency for him citing his youth and family responsibilities.
The Public Prosecutor, however, demanded exemplary punishment to both saying, “Both the convicts do not deserve any leniency. Kukreja took bribe despite being placed in such a high rank in the Sales Tax office and Garg offered him the illegal gratification. The cancer of corruption has spread its tentacles in social life to such an extent that the belief of common man in institutional work has been obliterated. Therefore, exemplary punishment should be granted to them.”
The court convicted the duo under various provisions of Prevention of Corruption Act. While awarding the quantum of sentence it said, “Keeping the facts and circumstances of the case, I hereby sentence Kukreja to three years’ rigorous imprisonment and Garg to two years’ rigorous imprisonment.”