CBI court awards four-year jail to former I-T official

Comparing corruption with cancer, the special CBI judge said that if not detected in time, it is sure to afflict every walk of life

PANCHKULA: A special CBI court on Monday held a former income tax (I-T) deputy commissioner of the Sirsa Circle guilty in a 2016 corruption case. The former I-T officer, Nitin Garg, was sentenced to four years in prison and told to pay a fine of Rs 3 lakh.

He was convicted for committing offences punishable under Sections 7 and 13 (1) (d) read with 13 (2) of the Prevention of Corruption (PC)

Act, 1988.

The case dates back to 2016, when the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI, ACB), Chandigarh, registered an FIR under PC Act, following a complaint by Parshotam Kumar Goyal.

Goyal, who trades in TMT Bars, alleged that Garg, the then deputy commissioner of income tax of Sirsa Circle, was demanding Rs 2 lakh for not imposing heavy penalties on his proprietorship firm. Following this, a trap was laid, and Garg was arrested from his hometown in Bathinda.

In the courtroom, Garg, who was under trial over five years, pleaded that he is not a previous convict and is suffering from a heart ailment.

But public prosecutor KP Singh argued that it is the need of the hour to give exemplary punishment to public servants found indulging in corrupt practices.

Special judge, CBI, Dr Sushil

Kumar Garg said: “Be you ever so high, the law is above you. One lie is enough to question all truths. It is the duty of the court that any anti-corruption law has to be interpreted and worked out in such a fashion so as to strengthen the fight against corruption.”

Comparing corruption with cancer, the judge said: “If not detected in time, it is sure to afflict every walk of life, leading to disastrous consequences. Corruption is a plague, which is not only contagious but if not controlled, spreads like fire in the jungle.”

Stating that punishment is designed to reform the offender and reclaim him as a law-abiding citizen for the society as a whole, the judge ordered: “Any softness in this regard could produce an undesirable result, namely, encouragement to adoption of corrupt means by public servants, which has indeed to be checked.”