AIZAWL: A special court in Aizawl on Monday sentenced two former officials from the Mizoram excise and narcotics department, and the finance department to 5 and 4 years imprisonment respectively in a 5-year-old graft case.
The special court (Prevention of Corruption Act) also fined them Rs 1.80 crore and Rs. 3 lakh respectively and sent them to Central jail in Aizawl.
Special judge HTC Lalrinchhana sentenced Rongura, then superintendent of the Excise and Narcotics department at the Serchhip office, for misappropriating over Rs. 1.73 crore by forging fraudulent salary bills for the office staff.
During his stint as the superintendent between August 2010 and January 2017, Rongura directed cashiers and other staff concerned to prepare fraudulent salary bills (106 bills) putting excess in the total amount of the bills altogether amounting to Rs. 1.81 crore.
Out of the total excess withdrawn (Rs. 1.81 cr), Rs. 8.1 lakh was spent for purchase of some necessary items for the excise office and for payment of various office bills, while the remaining Rs. 1.73 crore was misappropriated by the convict, the special court said.
Rongura was also asked to pay Rs. 1.8 crore, failing which he will undergo 90 years imprisonment.
The special court also sentenced Suakngura, then Assistant Account Officer at Serchhip Treasury, to 4 years imprisonment for taking bribes from Rongura.
A fine of Rs. 3 lakh was slapped against him and on default, he will undergo additional 18 months of imprisonment.
The special court had convicted the two on March 17 under IPC sections 420 (cheating) 477A (falsification of accounts) and under section 13(2) (criminal misconduct) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.
This is the second such important verdict made by the special court in graft cases in the current year.
Last month, the special court sentenced six people, including the younger brother of chief minister Zoramthanga, to one year in jail for receiving government compensation through fictitious claims by forging fake land passes and authority letters.