PANCHKULA: “It cannot be disputed that where corruption begins all rights end,” it was observed by the special CBI Judge in Panchkula, Jagdeep Singh, while awarding five-year imprisonment to senior accounts officer with the agriculture ministry Rajeev Kumar Gupta, who was convicted under Prevention of Corruption Act. The court also slapped a fine of Rs one lakh on the convict.
On the directions of the special CBI Judge, Jagdeep Singh, the accused was taken into custody, and was sent to Ambala jail.
The court in its order says, “Corruption devalues human rights, chokes development and undermines justice, liberty, equality, fraternity which are the core values in our preambular vision”.
The CBI had arrested senior accounts officer with the agriculture ministry Rajeev Kumar Gupta for allegedly demanding and accepting a bribe of Rs 55,000 from a government counsel Ranjana Shahi, who was the former councillor of the Chandigarh municipal corporation, for clearing her pending bills.
The CBI had received a complaint from a senior panel counsel to the Central government in Punjab and Haryana high court, Ranjana Shahi, a resident of Chandigarh, alleging that he was demanding a bribe for clearing the pending bills.
The accused, a resident of Faridabad, had asked the advocate to pay the bribe at the Punjab Bhawan in New Delhi. The CBI had arrested him when he was receiving the amount.