A special court handling CBI cases here has sentenced a former officer of the Ministry of Environment and Forest to three years in jail for collecting bribe to issue environment clearance to a company.
Special Judge N.K. Malhotra sent 49-year-old Neeraj Khatri, a Deputy Director in the Ministry at the time of the crime, to jail for taking illegal gratification from an Odisha-based power and steel plant for arranging environmental clearance in 2013.
Three other accused were also convicted and sentenced.
The CBI had arrested Mr. Khatri in January 2013 while accepting a bribe of ₹7 lakh from co-accused Raisri Chinmaya Srichandan outside a posh hotel in South Delhi.
The arrest was made a day before the plea for environmental clearance was to be taken for consideration by the reconstituted Expert Appraisal Committee (Non-Coal Mining).
The investigating agency had also reportedly recovered over ₹1 crore from Mr. Khatri’s residence.
The court also sentenced Suresh Joshi, managing director of Chariot Steel and Power Pvt. Ltd. (CSPPL), to three years in jail.
