A special CBI court in Vizag has convicted a women Passport officer and three others to rigorous imprisonment in jail and has fined them for taking a bribe of Rs 4,500 from a passport applicant in 2008.
The sentenced officer has been identified as Jawangala Alivelu, the then Superintendent of Visakhapatnam passport office.
"The court has convicted Alivelu two brokers Ganta Laxmi Venkateswara Achari and Ramabhuta Janardhana Rao and a private security guard deployed at the office named Kopisetti Balaji," a CBI spokesperson said here.
While Alivelu and Achari have been convicted to undergo three years RI and pay a fine of Rs 7,000 and Rs 5,000 each, Rao will undergo one year RI with a fine of Rs 2,000 and Balaji has been sentenced to 6-month RI with a fine of Rs 1,000, the agency said.
CBI said the complainant in this case had alleged the passport agent demanded an amount of Rs 4,500 as bribe from him on behalf of Alivelu and for themselves for stamping ECNR (Emigration Clearance Not Required) on his passport.
"Subsequently, after registering the case, a trap was laid and the accused was caught while accepting the bribe from the complainant on behalf of the public servant (Alivelu)," the CBI said.
