(Pervez Bari): For the first time in the state under the Madhya Pradesh Special Courts Act-2011 enacted by the Bharatiya Janata Party, (BJP), ruled Madhya Pradesh Government to end corruption, a special court has ordered to confiscate assets of a corrupt public servant worth Rs.6.94 crore on Thursday.
The above order was passed by Special Sessions Judge Mr. Avneendra Singh’s court at Indore. This is the first decision under the Act to confiscate assets. The Act came into force in February 2012 with a provision to confiscate disproportionate assets unearthed from government officers. A special court was constituted under the Act to deal exclusively with such confiscations and the court started functioning under Special Sessions Judge Mr. Avneendra Singh.
In the case, the EOW, (Economic Offence Wing), had conducted raid on the premises of Regional Transport Office, (RTO), clerk Raman Dhuldhoye on December 18 last year on the complaint of assets disproportionate to his income. During the raids, a farm house, over 5.57 hectare agricultural land, posh houses at different places, a number of four-wheelers and two-wheelers, about 0.75 kg gold and 4 kg silver jewellery were found in his possession. Price of the assets was assessed as Rs.1.8 crore at that time. The price of this property is about Rs.7 crore at present.
When disproportionate assets were found in raids, the EOW filed a case in the special court on April 17, 2012 under sections 13(1) (d), 13(2) and 13(1) (e) of Prevention of Corruption Act for seeking to confiscate assets of this corrupt public servant. Satisfied with the documents put up by the EOW, the courts announced the decision to confiscate the assets and ordered Indore collector to use these assets in the public interest as per government’s directives. The decision was announced within 7 months after filing of the case. (pervezbari@eth.net)