Ex-govt official convicted for amassing illegal wealth

A former government official has been convicted by a Delhi court for amassing disproportionate assets worth Rs 24.88 lakh during his service between 1965 and 2001.
Special CBI judge Sanjeev Jain held Virender Singh, then Project Director in Telecommunication Consultants India Limited (TCIL) here, guilty under various provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
"The prosecution has been able to prove its case against accused Virender Singh beyond any shadow of reasonable doubt that he was found in possession of disproportionate assets to the extent of Rs 24,88,403.87 i.E 37.19 per cent against his known sources of income which he failed to explain/account for satisfactorily," the judge said.

TCIL is a government-owned engineering and consultancy company under the administrative control of the Department of Telecommunications (DOT), Ministry of Communications and Information Technology.
According to the CBI, the check period was taken from 1965 to December 11, 2001 which was almost the entire service term of the accused. The agency concluded that Singh was found having disproportionate assets of Rs 31.14 lakh.
The CBI probed against Singh's wealth after it received information regarding his illegal assets in the name of his family members.

Singh during the trial denied of the allegation saying he has been implicated.
The counsel for Singh also told the court that CBI has taken the check period for the period of about 35 years i.E from 1965 to 2001 which has caused prejudice to the accused.

The advocate said that due to long gap, it was extremely difficult for Singh to produce records regarding his income.
"The various incomes earned through legal sources could not be proved by him due to lapse of time and non traceability of various documents," Singh's counsel said.