Chandigarh assets case: Court sentences couple to 3 years in jail, fines Rs 85L

The court also imposed a fine of Rs 84 lakh on former UT assistant engineer Rajesh Chadha and Rs 1 lakh on his wife Manju Chadha.




Terming the arithmetic of the convicted couple in a disproportionate assets case of Rs 79 lakh a fable of “the milkmaid and her pail”, wherein the milkmaid dreams of exchanging milk for chicken and amassing wealth by selling eggs, the special CBI court of Chandigarh on Thursday sentenced to three-year imprisonment former UT assistant engineer Rajesh Chadha and his wife Manju Chadha for having assets of Rs 79 lakh which were disproportionate to their known sources of income.

The court of Dr Sushil Kumar Garg, special ADJ, also imposed a fine of Rs 84 lakh on Rajesh and Rs 1 lakh on his wife. The convicts were released on bail by the court as the imprisonment awarded was less than four years. Rajesh is already convicted by the CBI court, Chandigarh, in the year 2012 in a corruption case, the appeal of which is pending before the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

The defence counsel of the couple had argued that prior to joining as an engineer with UT, Rajesh had been giving tuitions. The income from tuition from July 1980 to December 1986 and the earning therefrom through further investment of Rs 62,000 yielded an income of Rs 13,75,568 over a period of 29 years. He also received money in the form of shaguns at family functions.

The court, however, held, “The arithmetic of the accused to arrive at the income from his tuition work prior to checking period as well as during check period in the form of amount received as shaguns mentioned in the Tables 11 to 16 of his written arguments reminds this court of fable ‘the milkmade and her pail’. Like the milkmade, who dreamt of exchanging milk for chicken and amassing wealth by selling eggs but ends up dropping her pail to the ground, the accused had taken the income from tuition work as well as from shaguns to arrive at fabulous figure of Rs 98,06,124 during the check period.

The court said “explanation of the defence cannot be accepted” and held the duo guilty.

The case

As per the CBI, in July 2009, Rajesh Chadha, an assistant engineer, UT, was caught red-handed by the agency while accepting Rs 70,000 from a contractor to clear his pending bills of Rs 1.90 lakh. During investigation, it was revealed that Rajesh had acquired assets disproportionate to his known sources of income. Subsequently, a case in March 2010 was registered under section 13(1)(e) punishable under section 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act,1988, and under Section 109 (punishment of abetment if the act abetted is committed in consequence and where no express provision is made for its punishment) of the IPC against Rajesh and his wife Manju Chadha, Assistant, Punjab Secretariat, Establishment Branch, Chandigarh. It was alleged Rajesh was in possession of assets mainly in the shape of KVPs (Kisan Vikas Patras) worth Rs 66 lakh, and fixed deposits in the name of his wife Manju Chadha.

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