A Delhi court has sentenced a former meter reader inspector of the erstwhile Delhi Electric Supply Undertaking (DESU) to two years rigorous imprisonment for possessing more that ₹10 lakh of disproportionate assets.
The court also ordered confiscation of ₹9,75,000 in cash, which was seized by the CBI during a raid at his house.
Acquired assets
According to the FIR lodged by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in 2002, Ashok Kumar Raswant had acquired the movable and immovable disproportionate assets between August 1974, when he joined the service, and 2002 when the DESU was privatised.
He had no assets or income before the check period, the investigating agency said. Holding the accused guilty of offence under the Prevention of Corruption Act, special judge Kovai Venugopal said, “The accused is held to be in possession of assets to the tune of ₹10,81,289.05, which are disproportionate to the known sources of income. Thus, the prosecution is successful in proving the charge against the accused for the offence under Section 13(2) read with Section 13(1) (e) of the Prevention of Corruption Act.”
Lenient sentence
However, the judge took a lenient view while sentencing the accused in view of his age and and the trauma he suffered during 15 long years of pendency of the case.
“Certain mitigating factors like age of the accused and his health condition need to be considered. In fact, the lengthy span of 15 years in the present case might have caused mental trauma and mental incarceration to the accused,” the judge said.
“Overall considering the gravity of the offence and as well as the mitigating circumstances, the accused is sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for two years and a fine of ₹50,000,” the judge said.
