Corrupt public servants must be dealt with sternly: Court

Corruption by public servants needs to be dealt with sternly to deter them from indulging in such activity, a Delhi court has observed while sending a ex-telecom officer to three years in jail in a graft case.

The court also imposed a fine of Rs five lakh on Ajay Kumar Takkar, a former senior officer in BSNL (Delhi) and MTNL (Mumbai) between 1977 and 2004, while holding him guilty of amassing disproportionate assets to the tune of Rs 17.34 lakh.

"Corruption by public servants are required to be dealt with sternly so that other public servants are deterred from indulging in corruption activities. Therefore...convict Ajay Kumar Takkar is sentenced to rigorous imprisonment of three years and a fine of Rs five lakh," Special CBI Judge Vikas Dhull said. The court relied on the CBI case that Takkar, who acquired disproportionate assets between 1994 and 2004, could not satisfactorily account for them.

"In the present case, convict Ajay Kumar Takkar has been found guilty under the Prevention of Corruption Act for having acquired disproportionate assets to the tune of Rs 17,34,706," the judge said.

The court also held Takkar's wife Sandhya, who was a homemaker, guilty of abetting corruption as several bank accounts were found in her name. It sentenced her to one year imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs one lakh on the woman. "The evidence has also proved on record that Sandhya Takkar was having many joint saving accounts with Ajay and there were many fixed deposits in the sole name of Sandhya or in the joint name of Sandhya and Ajay," it said.

According to the FIR lodged by the CBI in 2004, Takkar had joined the Indian Telecom Services on December 12, 1977 and since then had served in different capacities at various places in Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) and Mahanagar Telecom Nigam Limited (MTNL).

The charge sheet had said that his assets were found to be disproportionate to the extent of 71 per cent of his known sources of income.

He had, however, denied the allegations and said that the inventory prepared was a fudged and contrived document by the CBI.