By IANS,
Mumbai : In a rare conviction of an Indian Police Service (IPS) officer, a Mumbai special court Wednesday sentenced a suspended deputy inspector-general of police to five years’ jail in a corruption case.
A.K. Jain, IPS officer of the 1982 batch, was convicted for demanding a bribe of Rs.500,000 from a subordinate officer who too was facing action for graft.
Jain’s chartered accountant Prasanna Lodha, who helped him extract the money from a police sub-inspector, was also given a five-year jail term. Both have also been ordered to pay a fine of Rs.1.50 lakh each.
The case dates back to 2000 when Jain was conducting a probe against police sub-inspector Sanjeev Kokil of Byculla police station and demanded the bribe to get him off the hook.
Kokil was accused of permitting a beer bar in his jurisdiction to remain open beyond the prescribed deadline.
After the bribe was demanded, the sub-inspector approached the state government’s Anti-Corruption Bureau, which arrested Lodha.
Lodha gave evidence against Jain, who was also nabbed in June 2000.
Incidentally, Kokil himself was sacked earlier this year on charges of corruption. He was to retire in October.