Bhubaneswar: A special Vigilance court here Monday sentenced a former revenue inspector (RI) and an ex-senior clerk to three three-year jail terms after convicting the duo in a bribery case. Baikunthanath Mohanty, the ex-senior clerk, and Rabindranath Barik, ex-RI of Pratap Revenue Circle of Banapur Tahasil in Khurda were arrested and subsequently charge sheeted by the Vigilance under Sections 13(2) r/w 13(1)(d)/7 of the PC Act, 1988 and 120B of the IPC for demanding and accepting bribe from a person for grant of sand quarry lease. The court also slapped a penalty of Rs 20,000 on each of the convicts for offences under Sections 13(2) r/w 13(1)(d) of the PC Act,1988.
Failure to pay the penalty would entail an additional four-month jail term to the convicts, the court ruled. Additionally, the court awarded three years imprisonment to the duo for the offence under Section 7 of the PC Act, 1988, and slapped a penalty of Rs 20,000 on each. The convicts would have to serve another four months jail term in case of failure to pay the fine, the court ruled, adding that all the sentences would run concurrently. The Vigilance court also held the duo guilty of offences under Section 120B of the IPC and awarded a three-year term apart from slapping a penalty of Rs 20,000 on each of them. Failure to pay the penalty would entail an additional four months in jail, the court ruled. Odisha Vigilance will now move the competent authority for stopping the pension of the convicts following their conviction, special public prosecutor (Vigilance, Bhubaneswar) Kamadev Tripathy said.