Punjab Police ASI gets RI in bribery case

Tribune News Service

Ramkrishan Upadhyay

Chandigarh, March 2

Corruption in a civilised society is a disease like cancer, which, if not detected in time, is sure to malignant the polity of our country leading to disastrous consequences. Today, uncontrolled corruption has spread like contagious disease. It has been eating into the vitals of the Indian democracy for decades now.

While making this observation, Jagjit Singh, Special Judge, CBI Court, sentenced ASI Bhupinder Singh of the Punjab Police to four-year rigorous imprisonment in a nine-year-old bribery case. The court also imposed a fine of Rs50,000 on the convict. The court convicted the accused for the offences punishable under sections 13 (2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

Special Public Prosecutor PK Dogra argued the case for the CBI and prayed for an exemplary punishment for the accused in view of the seriousness of the crime and also in view of the fact that the crime was committed by a policeman who was duty-bound to curb corruption.

Bhupinder was arrested by the CBI in January 2013 while taking bribe from the owner of a firm, Healthyway Immigration, in Sector 42, Chandigarh. He was posted with the Jalandhar police while he was investigating a complaint filed against Amit Kakkar, owner of Healthyway Immigration in Jalandhar. The ASI allegedly informed Kakkar that a complaint against the company was pending in Jalandhar.

He allegedly demanded Rs50,000 from Kakkar to remove his name from the complaint. Kakkar filed a complaint to the investigating agency. The CBI laid a trap and arrested the ASI in the office of the immigration company in Sector 42 while allegedly taking the bribe amount.

The court also sentenced him to three-year RI under section 7 the Prevention of the Corruption Act and imposed a fine of Rs25.000 on him. The court said both sentences would run concurrently.

He prayed for leniency due to his ill health and old parents. But the court rejected his plea.

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