Patna: A special court of the Vigilance Investigation Bureau (VIB) in Patna convicted a junior engineer of a power distribution company in a 35-year-old bribery case for accepting Rs300 to provide an electricity connection.The court sentenced the accused, Sudama Rai, junior electrical engineer posted at the electrical sub-division, Nawada, to one year of rigorous imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs20,000. The sentence was pronounced on Feb 23, VIB officials said on Wednesday.
According to the prosecution, Rai had demanded Rs500 from Vijay Mistri, a resident of Gunawa village under Nawada police station area, for providing an electricity connection for a machine. Acting on the complaint, the vigilance department laid a trap and arrested Rai on Aug 14, 1991, while he was accepting Rs300 as part of the bribe.The special vigilance court of Judge Md Rustom convicted Rai.The then investigating officer, DSP (electrical wing), Patna, Amarnath Khanna, had filed the chargesheet. Special public prosecutor Krishna Murari Prasad represented the Bihar govt.The court awarded one year of rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs10,000. In case of non-payment of fine, Rai will undergo one month of simple imprisonment. Both sentences will run concurrently.
