Hyderabad, Sep 12 (IANS): A Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court in Hyderabad, Telangana has convicted and sentenced a former Cotton Purchase Officer of the Cotton Corporation of India and his wife in a disproportionate assets (DA) case.
The court, on September 11, sentenced Majeti Venkata Bhavani Prasad, the then Cotton Purchase Officer at CCI, to five years of rigorous imprisonment (RI) and imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh. His wife, Majeti Priyanka, was sentenced to four years of rigorous imprisonment and fined Rs 50,000.
The CBI registered the case on November 3, 2016, alleging that Prasad, while posted as Cotton Purchase Officer at CCI, Warangal, had amassed assets disproportionate to his known sources of income during the check period from January 1, 2010, to February 21, 2015.
According to the agency, Prasad, with the assistance of his wife, possessed assets and pecuniary resources worth Rs 94,17,371 in his name and in the names of his family members. These assets were allegedly 291.73 per cent disproportionate to his known sources of income, which he could not satisfactorily account for.
After completing the investigation, the CBI filed a charge sheet against the accused on May 7, 2018.
Following the trial and examination of the evidence presented by the prosecution, the court convicted both accused and awarded the sentences accordingly.
In another DA-related development, a CBI court in Lucknow on August 11 had convicted and sentenced a former senior official of the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) to three years’ imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 14.75 lakh.
The court convicted Krishna Mohan Tripathi, the then Chief Regional Manager of the IRCTC Regional Office in Lucknow, after finding him guilty of possessing assets disproportionate to his known sources of income.
The case originated from a trap operation conducted on October 31, 2009, when Tripathi was allegedly caught red-handed while demanding and accepting Rs 70,000 as illegal gratification.
The subsequent investigation revealed evidence indicating that he had allegedly accumulated assets beyond his known sources of income.
The CBI had registered the DA case on February 24, 2010, and filed a charge sheet against Tripathi on December 13, 2011, after completing its investigation.
During the trial, the prosecution had established that Tripathi possessed disproportionate assets worth Rs 1.44 crore. The assets were assessed to be 102.53 per cent higher than his total known income during the relevant period.
After considering the evidence and arguments presented during the trial, the Lucknow CBI court had convicted Tripathi and awarded him three years’ imprisonment along with the fine.
