5-yr jail term for former assistant engineer in DA case

A special vigilance court today sentenced a former assistant engineer to five years in prison in a disproportionate assets case under the Bihar Special Courts Act, 2009.
Special judge Ravindra Nath Tripathi handed out the sentence to Mukteshwar Ram, who worked in the building construction department, for amassing assets disproportionate to his known sources of income to the tune of Rs 35.36 lakh.
The court also slapped a fine of Rs 10 lakh on Ram, failing which he would serve a jail term for one more year.
The Vigilance Department had filed the charge sheet against the engineer on October 6, 1998.

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had come out with Bihar Special Courts Act, 2009 with much fanfare with a provision to confiscate properties of the corrupt officials.
Earlier, properties of four such officials were confiscated in Patna and on them schools were set up.
Besides the money, the Vigilance Department had seized documents for three houses owned by Ram - one in Patna and two in Bhagalpur.