Graft case: Patiala CBI court holds serving Col guilty

GRAFT CBI had nabbed the officer in 2009 while taking a bribe of ₹5,000 when he was the Commander Works Engineer in Bathinda

PATIALA : The special CBI court here has convicted a serving army colonel in a 2009 corruption case. The verdict was pronounced on Friday.

Colonel PK Mohanty, who is currently posted in Kargil, was sent to Patiala Jail after the court pronounced a sentence of three years and imposed a fine of ₹15,000. The CBI had nabbed the officer while taking a bribe of ₹5,000 when he was the Commander Works Engineer (CWE) in Bathinda.

In 2009, a contractor Parveen Kumar had approached the CBI alleging that the Col Mohanty and another official Rajiv Trivedi, were demanding a bribe for clearing payments of his previous works and awarding new tenders.

PATIALA The special CBI court here has convicted a serving army colonel in a 2009 corruption case. The verdict was pronounced on Friday.

Colonel PK Mohanty, who is currently posted in Kargil, was sent to Patiala Jail after the court pronounced a sentence of three years and imposed a fine of ₹15,000. The CBI had nabbed the officer while taking a bribe of ₹5,000 when he was the Commander Works Engineer (CWE) in Bathinda.

In 2009, a contractor Parveen Kumar had approached the CBI alleging that the Col Mohanty and another official Rajiv Trivedi, were demanding a bribe for clearing payments of his previous works and awarding new tenders. As per complaint, the CWE was demanding 2.5% share in each work carried out by the contractor. The probe agency laid a trap on April 20, 2009, and gave marked currency to the complainant. As per the plan, the complainant handed over the amount to the colonel, but when the CBI raided the place they failed to recover the amount. However, when the officers hands were dipped in water, they turned red, indicating that he had taken the notes coated with potassium permanganate.

When the accused was grilled on the spot, he confessed to have hid the money in his bathroom. The CBI found the money in a pillar tap with a special hollow base. Apart from the bribe money, the CBI recovered Rs 55,000 which the accused allegedly took from some other per- son. The CBI videographed the recovery and presented a challan in the court.

During the trial, Col Mohanty’s lawyer argued that the money was placed by the complainant in the bathroom. He also argued that there was no evidence that the accused had demanded bribe.

However, the CBI produced an audio recording between the complainant and the accused following which special CBI judge Harjeet Singh said prosecution has produced witnesses, evidences and arguments which are cogent, convincing and worthy of reliance to prove that the colonel was guilty.