Bhaskar Mukherjee, TNN, Feb 26, 2011,
HISAR: Justice is said to be blind. But 11 officials of Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) and Dakshin Haryan Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN) might feel it does not exactly prefer counting, as they were fined Rs 10,000 for taking bribes that ranged from Rs 50 to 500. Getting even stricter, district and sessions judge Baljeet Singh sentenced them all to seven-years of rigorous imprisonment each on Friday.
Two of those held guilty are women.
In April and May 2006 a team of four journalists headed by RTI activist Ramesh Verma had carried out a sting operation in HUDA's estate office as well as operations office of DHBVN. Through that, they exposed how these employees took bribes.
As the news appeared in print media, chief minister's flying squad took cognizance and a case under various sections of Prevention of Corruption Act was made out at Hisar police station.
All of the accused were arrested and made to face trial.
Some of the witnesses turned hostile during the DHBVN trial but strong documentary and circumstantial evidence resulted in Friday's decision.
"We recorded the whole episode through hidden camera. The two DHBVN employees are junior engineer Om Prakash Relan and assistant lineman Bhagat Ram, who accepted the bribe in cash," Verma said.
The convicted HUDA employees were identified as Jagmohan, Raj Rani, Om Prakash, HC Girdhar, Subhash, Baljeet, Madhu, Devi Lal and Jogi Ram.
Balraj, who is at large, is now a proclaimed offender.
The HUDA sting operation related to the transfer of a residential plot from one name to another.
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