Former Chhattisgarh official sentenced to 4 years in jail in bribery case

A special court in Chhattisgarh's Raipur district has convicted a former state Civil Supply Corporation official in a bribery case, dating back to 2006, and sentenced him to four years of imprisonment.

Special Judge (Anti-Corruption Bureau) Sunil Kumar Nande awarded the four-year jail term to Shivshankar Bhatt yesterday and also slapped a fine of Rs 50,000 on him, Special Public Prosecutor Yogendra Tamrakar told PTI today.

In 2006, Bhatt, a manager of the Civil Supply Corporation at the time, was caught red-handed taking bribe by the ACB after a transporter complained against him, Tamrakar said.

Transporter Ravi Agrawal had approached the ACB, stating that Bhatt was demanding a bribe of Rs 25,000 to clear the former's pending bills of Rs 2 lakh, he added.

Bhatt was caught while accepting a sum of Rs 20,000 from Agrawal during a trap laid by the ACB on November 29, 2006.

Bhatt has been in jail since 2015 in connection with two other cases, including a disproportionate assets (DA) case, Tamrakar said.

He was among the 12 Civil Supply Corporation employees who were arrested after a multi-crore-rupee scam was unearthed in Chhattisgarh in 2015.