CBI opposes bail plea of former Union Minister

The Central Bureau of Investigation has opposed a petition of former Union Minister P.K. Thungon challenging his conviction and sentence in a corruption case as well his plea for bail. The corruption case is related to allotment of some government shops in Delhi in 1993-94.

In an affidavit filed in Delhi High Court last week, the CBI contended that Thungon, despite being in a responsible position of the Minister of State, had indulged in corruption and caused pecuniary loss to the State exchequer.

Filing a reply on the court’s direction, CBI’s standing counsel Rajdipa Behura said in the court of Justice Siddharth Mridul that Thungon had also extended huge pecuniary advantage to other accused in the case. On these grounds, the investigating agency sought dismissal of his bail application as well.

Thungon, who is also a former Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh, was convicted and sentenced to three-and-a-half years in jail by the trial court here for offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act and Section 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of Indian Penal Code.

The trial court had also imposed a fine of Rs.1 lakh on Thungon, who is at present lodged in Tihar Central Jail here. He was the Minister of State for Urban Affairs and Employment in the P.V. Narasimha Rao government at the time of the alleged offence.

According to CBI, five accused had allegedly conspired during September 1993 to June 1994 for fraudulently obtaining undue benefit in the allotment of shops on economical licence fee basis in contravention of the rules governing such allotments.