IAS officer gets two years in jail for graft

An IAS officer was sentenced to two years imprisonment yesterday for demanding a bribe of Rs 1 lakh from the principal of an industrial training institute five years ago.

Ramesh Thete was posted in Jabalpur as Director of Employment and Training in February 2002 when he was caught red handed while taking a bribe from Betul ITI Principal N R Borale. Thete had served a notice on Borale and threatened to dismiss him before he was caught at a hotel in Bhopal’s M P Nagar area. The notice said several people had complained against Borale. The principal had also been accused of negligence. Thete had initially refused to take the money offered to him but eventually accepted it. The Special Police establishment of Lokayukta had seized the suitcase carrying money from Thete’s house.

The IAS officer was booked for offences under sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act of 1988. The 1993 batch officer was also fined Rs 10,000 by the Special Court of Additional Sessions Judge S K Raghuvanshi. He was released on bail and has 30 days to appeal.