Bhubaneswar: The special vigilance court here Wednesday sentenced former revenue inspector (RI) of Ranpur in Nayagarh to three years’ imprisonment after convicting him of bribery in 2009.
Special vigilance judge Shyam Sundar Dash convicted the accused Raghupati Nanda under Sections 13(2) and 7 of Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988. The court slapped a penalty of Rs 5,000 on Nanda failing which he has to undergo an additional imprisonment of four months, the court ruled.
According to the case diary, Bansidhar Pradhan, the complainant, had approached the Nayagarh Collector to obtain a stamp vending licence in 2009. Accordingly, the Ranpur tehsildar directed Nanda, who was then RI of Ranpur, to submit an enquiry report regarding the income and residence of Pradhan.
However, when Pradhan approached Nanda for the enquiry report, the latter demanded Rs 1,000 to process the same. Later, the amount was negotiated at Rs 300.
Pradhan approached the Bhubaneswar Vigilance division sleuths who laid a trap and caught Nanda red-handed September 7, 2009. A case (31/2009) was registered in this connection.
In course of investigation, vigilance inspector Harapriya Nayak, who was the investigating officer of the case, submitted the charge-sheet against Nanda. The court convicted Nanda after evaluating the statements of six witnesses, a Vigilance release reads.
Public Prosecutor Hemant Kumar Swain pleaded on behalf of the prosecution.