CBI official held guilty in corruption case

The CBI court today convicted Inspector Ravinder Kumar Singla in a corruption case registered nine years ago. The court will pronounce the quantum of sentence tomorrow.

The official was arrested by a CBI team from Delhi on May 26, 2016, after TK Sharma, manager of Nectar Life Sciences Limited, a pharmaceutical company, lodged a complaint against him. He alleged that the CBI official was forcibly using the company’s Honda City car. He gave the car to the official after the latter told him that his vehicle had broken down and he needed another to travel to Delhi to attend a meeting. He, however, did not return the car despite several requests.

Sharma also alleged that Singla had threatened him with implication in a false case if he kept on demanding the car back from the complainant.

The court framed charges against the accused under Sections 7, 13(1)D of the Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA), 384 (extortion) and 120 B of the IPC. However, the accused pleaded not guilty.

Another accused, Parmod Kumar Gautam, died during the trial.

Vinay Kumar Yadav, counsel for third accused Paramjit Singh, said there was nothing against him and even his name was not mentioned in the FIR.

Narender Singh, Public Prosecutor for the CBI, argued that the prosecution had proved the case beyond a shadow of doubt. He said the accused hatched a conspiracy in order to retain and transfer the car of the complainant company and also misused his official position. The Public Prosecutor said all prosecution witnesses from the company corroborated the mobile call conversations between the complainant and the accused.

After hearing the arguments, the court convicted Singla and acquitted Paramjit.

Chandigarh