The Special Courts in Bihar took six long years to punish a corrupt man, but it has finally happened! 

The first conviction in a disproportionate assets case under the provisions of Bihar Special Courts Act, 2009, came on Monday(Nov 14), a little over six years after the Act came into force in the state.

A special vigilance court has sentenced Mukteshwar Prasad, a retired assistant engineer in the public works department to five years imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 10 lakh.

The court also ordered the former engineer to serve an additional one year in prison in case of his failure to pay the penalty. Prasad was immediately taken into custody after the judgement  was announced in the court.

Prasad, who lives in  Bhagalpur, was accused of accumulating unaccounted assets worth Rs 35.15 lakh disproportionate to his known sources of income. The assets were revealed  during a search of his houses in Patna and Bhagalpur on June 18, 1994.

During the search, documents pertaining to lands and five buildings in Patna and Bhagalpur were seized.

Prasad owned three houses constructed on three cotthas each at Yarpur in Patna, Adampur (native village) and Bhagalpur.

He was appointed junior engineer in 1960 and retired in 1997. The check period for assessment of his unaccounted wealth was fixed from 1960 to 1994. During the period, Prasad had purchased several plots, constructed houses and made huge investments in insurance companies.

In his old age, Prasad has to pay for the  crimes of his youth.

Additional public prosecutor Rajesh Kumar said Bihar became the first state to enforce the Act in mid-2010.

  Bihar, corruption, crime, naked greed