Eight Punjab government employees have been arrested in July for accepting bribes in five different cases. The accused included two employees of the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) and three employees of the Ludhiana Improvement Trust.
A spokesperson of the Vigilance Bureau (VB) said last month, the Bureau registered 14 criminal cases in which 20 accused were involved in corruption. In these criminal cases, among others four police personnel, two revenue officials and six employees of improvement trust Ludhiana including its former chairman Raman Bala Subramanyam have been booked by the VB for further investigations.
The spokesperson said the Bureau has submitted challans pertaining to eight vigilance cases in various special courts in the last month. This apart, twelve Vigilance Enquiries (VEs) have also been registered against the public servants.
Divulging details about the cases, the spokesperson said a special court has decided three bribery cases filed and contested by the Bureau during the last month, in which Hakam Singh, revenue Patwari and Avtar Singh Sewadar were convicted and sentenced with four years imprisonment each and fine of Rs 20,000 and Rs 10,000 respectively.
A patwari, Gurdarshan Singh, has been awarded with jail term of four years and a fine of Rs 20,000 by the Additional District and Session Judge, Sangrur, the spokesperson said.
In another case, a Punjab Khadi Board district employee, Krishan Das, has been sentenced, under Section 7 of Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA), to three-year imprisonment and a fine of Rs 10,000. In addition, he has been awarded with four-year imprisonment and Rs 10,000 fine under section 13(2) of PCA by the Additional District and Session Judge, Ferozepur.