Chandigarh CBI court issues NBW against convicted UT estate office inspector, after HC declines plea.

Source – indianexpress.com

The Special CBI Court of Chandigarh issued a non-bailable warrant (NBW) against the former UT Estate Office Inspector Jagjit Kumar, who was convicted in a 2013 graft case.

Kumar was sentenced to three-years imprisonment on December 5, 2019, by the CBI Court of Chandigarh, however, he was released on bail.

The NBW warrant was issued against Kumar by the Court of Additional District and Sessions Judge Dr Sushil Kumar Garg, after the Punjab and Haryana High Court declined Kumar’s application, which sought to extend the period of suspension of the sentence.

Kumar had filed an application, seeking 30 days extension to the suspension of the sentence, as he was admitted to PGIMER in Chandigarh. However, the CBI Court learnt that on January 16, Kumar’s plea was declined by the High Court.

The order of the CBI Court read, “Since, the time to prefer the appeal by the applicant/convict expired on January 4, let the non-bailable warrant of the applicant/convict be issued for January 23, so as to send him behind the bars in order to serve the sentence awarded by this court, vide order of conviction dated December 5, 2019.”

The Special CBI Court of Chandigarh had sentenced three-years imprisonment to the UT Estate Office Inspector for accepting a graft of Rs 15,000 from a Chandigarh resident in 2013.

The convict, Jagjit Kumar, was sentenced imprisonment under the Sections 7 and 13 (2), read with section 13 (1) (d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.

The Court also imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on the convict. Kumar was released on bail after paying the fine amount as the imprisonment was for a period of three years.

According to the prosecution, at the time of the incident, accused Jagjit Kumar worked as the Inspector in the office of Secretary of the House Allotment Committee, Chandigarh, where he was assigned to watch and ward duties of vacant houses, misuse or subletting of government houses, and submit weekly occupation reports to the Secretary House Allotment Committee.

The case dates back to March 20, 2013, when the accused Kumar was arrested on the complaint of Rajinder Kumar, a resident of Sector 24 in Chandigarh, for demanding a bribe of Rs 30,000, and Rs 15000 each from the

complainant and his neighbour Vijay Kumar, in order to resolve the issues related to the show cause notice for misuse/subletting of their government accommodation at Sector 24.