Provident Fund Office Staffer Gets 3 Years In Jail For Accepting Bribe

A special CBI court has sentenced a clerk from the Provident Fund (PF) office in Navi Mumbai to three years of imprisonment for accepting a bribe of Rs 3 lakh from a company.

Special judge (CBI) Amit M Shete sentenced Kallakuri Vijay Ramarao (52) to three years of imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on him after finding him guilty of charges under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The court also acquitted another accused who was also tried on the charges of abetment of the crime.

The copy of the order passed on September 8, was made available on Friday.

Special public prosecutor Om Prakash Chauhan informed the court that an infrastructure firm from Vashi had not filed its PF returns from 2002 for which it was issued a notice and called for a hearing in July 2008.

The complainant, who is the representative of the firm, met the accused at the PF office in Vashi and the latter informed him that the company would be saddled with a penalty of Rs 10 lakh and the same can go up to Rs 50 lakh.

The accused demanded Rs 5 lakh to settle the matter and after negotiations, the amount was brought down to Rs 3 lakh. Following this, a complaint was lodged with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which laid a trap and nabbed the accused while accepting the bribe amount in August 22, 2008, the court was informed.

Five prosecution witnesses were examined to prove the charges against the accused, CBI court official Arun Satpute said. 

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