Pune, Sep 1 (IANS) A Special CBI Court in Pune sentenced a former Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) officer to Rigorous Imprisonment (RI) for four years with a fine of Rs 1.50 lakh in a Rs 10 lakh bribery case, an official said on Tuesday.
Devidas Shindikar, then Enforcement Officer in EPFO, Nashik, was held guilty and sentenced by the Special Court on Monday in connection with a complaint filed by a school employee from whom he had demanded the bribe in 2014, the CBI said in a statement.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) registered the instant case based on a complaint by the General Secretary of the school against Shindikar on April 17, 2014.
It was alleged that the accused had demanded a bribe from the complainant in connection with the reduction of PF dues and penalty payable by the school, the CBI statement said.
The accused initially demanded Rs 8.50 lakh, which was subsequently enhanced to Rs 13 lakh. After negotiation, the accused agreed to accept Rs 10 lakh as bribe.
The CBI laid a trap on April 21, 2014 and caught the accused red-handed while demanding and accepting a bribe of Rs 10 lakh from the complainant.
After completion of the investigation, the CBI filed the charge sheet on July 21, 2014 against the accused. The Special Court, after the trial, convicted and sentenced the accused accordingly.
In a separate case, a Special CBI court in Chennai convicted a steel trading firm and six individuals in a 2008 bank fraud case involving a loss of Rs 2.68 crore
The court on Monday convicted Jailani Steel Traders along with S. Amurudheen, L. Vijayalakshmi, M. Shanthi, S. Kamatshi, M. Sivakumar and M. Ravichandran Babu.
Amurudheen was sentenced to two years of rigorous imprisonment, while the five other individuals were sentenced to six months of rigorous imprisonment each.
The court also imposed fines totalling Rs 60,000 on the six convicted individuals, while the firm was ordered to pay a separate fine of Rs 20,000.
The case was registered by the CBI on April 21, 2008, following a complaint lodged by United Bank of India.
–IANS
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