IFS officer sentenced to 3 years in jail for corruption

A special CBI court here today sentenced an Indian Forest Service (IFS) officer to three years in jail for amassing assets disproportionate to his known sources of income in a 2005 case.

Deputy Conservator of Forests K Bhasmakara Rao was convicted under relevant sections of Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 for amassing assets disproportionate to his known sources of income and sentenced by the court. He was also fined Rs 10 lakh, a CBI release said.

The CBI, however, did not specify whether Rao was still serving in the same position or not.

The court also ordered forfeiting Rs 30.57 lakh to the Union government and ordered sale of immovable properties in case Rao failed to deposit the amount.

The court further ordered appropriating the fine amount of Rs 10 lakh out of surplus money realised on sale of assets.

A case was registered on January 31, 2005 against Rao, based on information that Rao had amassed disproportionate assets to the known sources of income of Rs 58.49 lakh between January 1994 to January 2005.

After completing the investigation, CBI filed the chargesheet on October 30, 2006, stating that Rao was in possession of disproportionate assets to the tune of Rs 58.49 lakh against known sources of income of Rs 36.53 lakh, the release added.