GUWAHATI: Mizoram’s lone BJP MLA Buddha Dhan Chakma and 12 others were on Monday sentenced to one-year rigorous imprisonment by a local court in a corruption case.
The court of Special Judge (Prevention of Corruption Act), Vanlalenmawia also imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 each on the convicts.
After hearing the public prosecutor and the defence counsel, the court ordered: “All the convict persons are hereby sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of 1 (one) year under Section 13(1)(d) r/w 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988…”
On July 22, it had convicted the 13, including the chief executive member of the Chakma Autonomous District Council (CADC), after finding them guilty of misusing power by taking salary advance without obtaining permission from the governor.
Chakma told The New Indian Express he would challenge his sentencing in the Gauhati High Court. “The judge has given us interim bail for 90 days. We have to appeal in a higher court within such time,” he said.
Talking about the case, he said when he was serving as a Member of Development Council in the CADC, they had taken salary advance as the payment of the same was irregular, released on installment basis due to financial difficulties.
“We did everything in a legal way. However, when the liabilities were brought to our notice, we had instantly repaid the due amount. So, it is double punishment for us. We were convicted even after we had made the repayment,” the MLA said.
He said he was confident of winning the case as “we did not misuse pubic money.”
Ironically, the Mizoram unit of the BJP itself had lodged a complaint with the governor in 2017 alleging financial irregularities in the council and demanding its dissolution.
The next year, a senior official of the state’s Department of District Council and Affairs filed an FIR with the Anti-Corruption Bureau after a District Magistrate, who conducted a probe into the council’s affairs, had detected misuse of central funds meant for developmental works. Ten of the 13 convicts were then serving as the members of the council.