2-year imprisonment for former vehicle inspector for taking bribe

2-year imprisonment for former vehicle inspector for taking bribe

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:13.02.2021 

Twelve years after a motor vehicle inspector was caught red-handed while taking bribe by DVAC officials, a special court for cases dealing with the Prevention of Corruption Act found him guilty and sentenced him to two-year rigorous imprisonment. The official took ₹1,200 from an autorickshaw driver to release his original RC book.

According to the prosecution, on June 2, 2009, a load-auto owner who was taking his vehicle to a mechanic to get it repaired to avail a fitness certificate was stopped by the accused official, R Chinnakannu who was attached to RTO, Chennai (north). He verified and returned all documents except the original RC book. The prosecution stated that the official had demanded a bribe of ₹1,200 to return the docuemnt and to not register any case against the vehicle owner.

A week later, when the vehicle owner approached the official, he reiterated the demanded. Later, DVAC sleuths caught him accepting the bribe.

The final report was filed before the court in August 2010. In response, the counsel for the accused denied the charges and pleaded not guilty after which the trial commenced.

The counsel for the accused argued that the vehicle owner had only paid the road tax amount and that the police forced the official to take the money kept on the table and keep it in his pocket and the accused official never demanded any bribe from the vehicle owner.

After perusing the submissions from both sides, J Omprakash, special judge, special court for cases under prevention of corruption act held that the prosecution has proved with enough evidence that the official had accepted bribe and sentenced the official for two-year rigorous imprisonment.