Jaipur: An income tax officer convicted in a bribery case died by suicide in a government hospital in Jaipur on Monday. The officer had tested positive for Covid-19 and was admitted in the hospital for treatment.
The officer, Vinay Kumar Mangla, was admitted in a ward on the sixth floor of the Rajasthan University of Health Sciences (RUHS) hospital where he hung himself with the help of a bed sheet.
The guard on duty at the floor found Mangla hanging in the ward and informed the hospital authorities who informed the Pratap Nagar police station.
Mangla, 45, was nabbed by the CBI four years back while accepting a bribe of Rs 1 lakh in Jhalawar town, about 350 km south of Jaipur. On January 22, a CBI special court had convicted Mangla in the case and sentenced him to five years imprisonment.
Before being taken to jail, the officer had been admitted in RUHS for a Covid-19 test on Sunday and was found to be positive.
Mangla was admitted in a ward made for prisoners on the sixth floor of the hospital. He was alone in the ward. The guard told police he had seen Mangla on his bed at 4 am when he took a round of the floor. When he took the next round a few hours later, he saw Mangla hanging from the ceiling fan with a bed sheet tied around his neck.
Mangla is a resident of Kota city and police informed his wife and two children who live there. The body was taken for a post mortem and had been placed in the mortuary.
The CBI had caught Mangla in December 2016 when he was posted as the district tax officer in Jhalawar. He was nabbed while accepting a bribe of Rs 1 lakh from a petrol pump owner for not releasing his income tax demand.
The CBI officials also searched Mangla’s house and found 1.5 kg gold, documents of immovable properties, four bank locker details and six bank accounts details. The officials also recovered Rs 24.5 lakh in cash. He was arrested and was convicted in the bribery case.
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