Journalism of Courage
Four years after he was booked in a corruption case,CBI Special Judge Darshan Singh on Saturday sentenced V P Dhingra,former superintendent engineer with the UT Electricity department,to two years of rigorous imprisonment,besides imposing a fine of Rs 15,000.
Sleuths of the CBI had apprehended Dhingra on August 2,2006,after he accepted a bribe of Rs 20,000 at his Sector-19 residence. He was suspended by the UT Administration following the arrest.
He has been convicted under Sections 7 and 13 (2),read with Section 13 (1)(d),of the Prevention of Corruption Act,1988. Dhingra was given bail after being asked to furnish bail bonds of Rs 50,000.
Pronouncing the verdict,the CBI judge ruled,The convict was holding the position of a senior engineer in the UT Administration. Being in high position,he has misused his power and indulged in corrupt practices by accepting (a) bribe.
The complainant in the case,Subhash Bajaj,a contractor and managing director of Kanta Electricals India Limited,Mohali,had alleged that the official had demanded favours from him to help him get the contract. Bajaj had qualified for a government project to install automatic traffic light signals in the city. According to the prosecution,Dhingra was demanding money to give approval to certain equipment that Bajaj intended to use. Despite approval by the government laboratory,Dhingra was dilly-dallying the matter.
Acting on a plan,the contractor went to Dhingras house to give the money,but the official insisted they go out for a short drive. He allegedly accepted the money in the car. He was nabbed by the CBI as he was getting down from the car outside his residence with the bribe money.
Dhingra joined the Engineering department as a line superintendent (working charge) in 1970. A native of Hoshiarpur district in Punjab,Dhingra was regularised in his services as a line superintendent (junior engineer) in 1972. He became an SDO in 1978 and occupied the chair of the superintendent engineer in 2005.
