Punjab Civil Service (PCS) officer Tej Kumar Goyal has been sentenced for three-year rigorous imprisonment in a seven-year-old bribery case by the Mohali court.
Goyal was arrested in September 8, 2010, when he was serving as joint secretary in the Scheduled Castes, Backward Classes (SC/BC) Welfare Department, under sections 7 and 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA).
He was caught red-handed by the state Vigilance Bureau team in his office at the Civil Secretariat while accepting Rs 50,000 as bribe from a complainant Geroge Shambu of Begowal village in Kapurthala district.
The complainant has informed the Bureau that Goyal was demanding Rs one lakh for issuing him a SC certificate.
“Vigilance has successfully contested this case and the court found Goyal guilty of accepting bribe and awarded him jail for three years with a fine of Rs 7000 under section 7 of PCA and three years jail with a fine of Rs 5000 under section 13(2) of the PCA,” said the Vigilance spokesperson.
Notably, the Bureau had submitted a closure report in the matter in 2012 citing “no evidence” in the matter. It was only after the Mohali Court rejected the VB’s closure report, the Bureau had sought the state government's sanction to prosecute Goyal and finally convict him.