Ahmedabad: A special CBI court here on Monday punished the widow of a former income tax officer with two years’ rigorous imprisonment after she was held guilty of helping her husband in amassing disproportionate assets when he was in service.The convict, Jasoda Vadalia, is a resident of Ghatlodia. Besides awarding the jail term, special Judge M R Chaudhary also imposed a fine of Rs 20,000 on her under the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, and Section 108 of the Indian Penal Code. The CBI registered the case against the couple — Rameshkumar and Jasoda — in June 2007. He was posted at Udhyog Bhavan in Gandhinagar range then. It was alleged that the couple amassed assets disproportionate to their known sources of income to the tune of Rs 29.46 lakh, which was 247% of their known sources of income during the period from Jan 1, 2002 to April 30, 2007. After investigation, the CBI filed a chargesheet in 2008 against the couple accusing them of amassing assets to the tune of Rs 25.46 lakh, which were 133.98% of their known sources of income. During the trial, the I-T officer passed away, and the criminal proceedings against him were abated by the court. After the trial, Jasoda was held guilty of abetting her husband in amassing disproportionate assets. When the court heard the issue of sentencing, the woman’s counsel submitted that the convict is more than 60 years old and her husband has already passed away. He pleaded for leniency. Public prosecutor PKB Gaiwad sought maximum punishment for the woman and submitted that she was actively involved with her husband in creation of assets, and he argued that the alleged offence is not an offence against a single individual but against society at large. After the sentencing, the CBI court suspended the sentence for one month and granted bail to the woman till then.
