Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Feb 10: Special Judge Anticorruption Jammu AK Koul today awarded 2 years RI and fine of Rs 5000 to Mohd Asghar Bhat, the then Naib Tehsildar presently attached with Deputy Commissioner Jammu.
According to the Crime Branch case, the accused was known to the complainant and he made the complainant to believe that he can manage inclusion of his name in the revenue records in respect of his land and house situated in Khasra No.324 provided the complainant pay him Rs 20,000 as the fee.
After receiving money, the accused provided the complainant three documents reflecting the name of complainant in the record, which documents were later on found to be false. As per the charge sheet, the accused even admitted before the Investigating Officer that he had prepared the false documents and the entire investigation led the IO to conclude that accused had abused his official position and cheated the complainant by giving him false documents in lieu of Rs 20,000, when the accused was neither posted in the area where the house of the complainant was situated nor was he having competence to issue such documents.
After hearing both the sides, court observed, “the accused is official of Revenue Department and so he is indirectly the custodian of the public record, irrespective of the post he was holding at the relevant time”, adding “he prepared some false documents which entries were not in accordance with the genuine revenue record and he knew it that he was preparing documents which were false and he made the complainant to believe that the documents so prepared by him were genuine”.
“This act of accused is in itself sufficient to show that accused was committing a breach of the law and was at the same time defrauding the complainant. So there cannot be any doubt about the fact that accused has willfully committed a serious crime and in absence of any mitigating circumstance he does not deserves any sympathy while deciding the quantum of punishment to be awarded to him”, the court said, adding “but there is a mitigating factor which weighs in favour of accused because he is sixty years old and having a family to support. A harsh sentence may not only effect his service if any left but would also expose his family to starvation for the fault which has been committed by accused only”.
With these observations, court awarded him imprisonment for a period of two years and a fine of Rs 5000 for each of the offences under Sections 467/468 RPC.
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