JAMMU, Apr 28: The court of Special Judge Anti-Corruption, Jammu, Sonia Gupta has dismissed a decades-old challan arising out of FIR No. 48/1994 and acquitted former Executive Engineer S C Verma and Sukhdev Singh in a case alleging illegal allotment of Irrigation Department land at Raipur Satwari.
The case pertained to allegations that land falling under Khasra No. 390 at Raipur Satwari, stated to be property of the Irrigation Department, had been illegally allotted in favour of the All J&K Civil Engineering Graduate Association.
The prosecution had alleged that the accused, while holding official positions, abused their authority and conferred undue benefit through allotment of Government land. The accused were charged under Section 5(1)(d) read with Section 5(2) of the J&K Prevention of Corruption Act and Section 120-B RPC.
The challan was presented before the court on January 3, 2012, while charges were framed on July 18, 2013. During trial, the prosecution examined 19 witnesses out of 24 listed in the charge-sheet. One of the accused, S K S Ulfat, died during the pendency of the proceedings.
After hearing, the court observed that the prosecution failed to establish any concrete evidence or connective link showing involvement of the accused in the alleged offence.
The court held that none of the charges leveled against the accused had been proved. The court also noted serious shortcomings in the investigation. One investigating officer admitted that original records were not obtained and stated that if original records are not secured, the investigation remains incomplete and charges cannot be established.
He further admitted that certain correspondence between the Irrigation Department and Municipality was not verified during investigation.
Special Judge Sonia Gupta, while dismissing the challan, held that the investigation had “miserably failed” to make out any case against the accused.
The court accordingly acquitted S C Verma and Sukhdev Singh of all charges, discharged their bail bonds and directed that the record be returned to the department under rules.
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