Clerk gets four-year rigorous jail term for Rs 10,000 bribe

A city court on Thursday sentenced a Madhya Pradesh government clerk to four years' rigorous imprisonment for accepting a bribe of Rs 10,000 in exchange of issuing a no-objection certificate.

The court also imposed a fine of Rs 15,000 on the clerk, Vinod Sen,50, who was attached to the Madhya Pradesh Housing and Infrastructure Development Board (previously known as Housing Board) at the time of the incident.

Special Judge Yatindra Kumar Guru convicted Sen in the over two-year-old case under relevant sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act and awarded him four years' rigorous imprisonment.

Public prosecutor G P Ghatia said it was proved Sen had received a bribe of Rs 10,000 from a man, Mansingh Rajawat, at his office here on June 14, 2017.

An officer of the Lokayukta police said Rajawat had purchased a flat in Housing Board's project in Ayodhyapuri here.

To get it registered, he had sought a no-objection certificate from the Housing Board, the officer said.

According to the officer, Sen had initially demanded a bribe of Rs 20,000 from Rajawat to provide this document, but later agreed to give the certificate for Rs 10,000.

He was caught while taking the bribe amount from the complainant, the officer added.