Bengaluru court jails ED officer for 3 years in bribery case

A Bengaluru court on Friday sentenced former Enforcement Directorate (ED) officer Lalit Bazad to three years imprisonment in a corruption case [The State by CBI/ACB v Sri Lalit Bazad] .

Judge Manjunath Sangreshi of the Special CBI observed that it has been proved beyond doubt that when Bazad was posted as an Enforcement Officer at ED's Bengaluru branch, he demanded ₹50 lakh in bribes and accepted ₹5 lakh in exchange for the promise to defreeze a bank account.

The Court imposed a fine of ₹5.5 lakh on him.

The accused-Lalit Bazad is sentenced to undergo simple imprisonment for a period of 3 Years and shall pay a fine of Rs.5,00,000/- [Rupees Five Lakhs Only] for the offence punishable U/Sec.7 [bribery] of Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988; and in default of payment of fine, he shall undergo simple imprisonment for a period of 6 Months," the Court said.

Further, the accused-Lalit Bazad is sentenced to undergo simple imprisonment for a period of 1 Year and shall pay a fine of Rs.50,000/- [Rupees Fifty Thousand Only] for the offence punishable U/Sec.384 [extortion] of Indian Penal Code; and in default of payment of fine, he shall undergo simple imprisonment for a period of 1 Month.