The special court for CBI cases on Friday, September 22, convicted an office Superintendent of Western Railways, Mysuru division and sentenced him for three years for allegedly demanding and accepting a bribe of ₹25,000 from a candidate to issue an appointment letter.
The Judge H.A. Mohan also directed the convict, L.K. Srikanth to pay a fine of ₹3 lakh for an offence punishable under section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act.
The convict, Srikanth, who himself had been appointed under compassionate grounds, had allegedly demanded a bribe of ₹3 lakh from Vinod Kumar who had got the job as a technician, also on compassionate grounds, after the death of his mother on-duty in August 2020.
After negotiation, Srikanth brought down the amount to ₹1 lakh and demanded an advance amount of ₹25,000 to issue the order. Unable to pay the bribe, Mr. Vinod approached the CBI with the help of his relative and filed a complaint.
Based on the complaint, a team laid a trap and arrested Srikanth red-handed while he was accepting the bribe near a nursing home in Mysuru , a kilometre away from his office. The entire incident was captured on CCTV camera installed nearby and proved an important piece of evidence for the CBI investigation.
K.S. Hema, special public prosecutor, appeared before the CBI and argued the case.
