By IANS,
New Delhi : A trail court Thursday convicted 84-year-old former telecom minister Sukhram for misusing his official position when he was in the P.V. Narasimha Rao government in 1996.
Helding Sukram guilty under the Prevention of Corruption Act and IPC, Central Bureau of Invetigation (CBI) special judge R.P. Pandey said: “The accused is convicted.”
The court, which is likely to pronounce its verdict Saturday, said: “The facts and circumstances show that because of proximity of co-accused D.S. Choudhary (since dead) with Sukh Ram, HTL was his most favoured vendor.”
Sukhram was alleged to have shown undue favour to a cable supply company in 1996.
The CBI, in its charge sheet, accused Sukhram and an accomplice allegedly accepting Rs.3 lakh in brine.
In 2009, Sukhram was held guilty of possessing disproportionate assets worth Rs.4.25 crore.
In 2002, he was awarded a three-year jail term under the Prevention of Corruption Act in a case that caused a loss of Rs.1.66 crore to the state exchequer.
The judge said though there was no direct evidence to prove a conspiracy between Sukhram and Choudhary, “it is a well-known fact that conspiracy is hatched in privacy and secrecy, for which direct evidence would be rarely available”.