BENGALURU: The Special Court for CBI Cases convicted and sentenced T Shivanna, Senior Divisional Personnel Officer, South Western Railway, Bengaluru, to undergo simple imprisonment for four years and to pay Rs 5 lakh fine and his wife RN Manjula Kumari, Section Superintendent, CID, Bengaluru, to undergo simple imprisonment for one year and to pay Rs 1 lakh fine in disproportionate assets case.
In addition to this, the court also sentenced M Narayanaswamy, partner of Aditya Builders and Developers Private Limited, to undergo simple imprisonment for one year and to pay Rs 1 lakh fine for abatement of commission of the offence.
"It is to be held that the prosecution has proved beyond the shadow of reasonable doubt by placing legally admissible, cogent reliable documentary evidence.. Considering that this is an offence of corruption, which is against the public policy and good governance, it would not be justified to invoke the provisions of the Probation of Offenders Act", said Judge K L Ashok while deciding the quantum of punishment.
The Judge also passed the order that the disproportionate assets (DA) worth to the tune of Rs 1.50 crore shall be confiscated by the state and the two properties of the accused at R T Nagar in Bengaluru shall stand attached for the realisation of the confiscated amount.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) submitted a charge sheet against the accused after probing the case registered in 2015 for the offences punishable under the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act. Shivanna was working as the Senior Personnel Officer at SWR and his wife Manjula Kumar was working as a Stenographer at the State Intelligence Office, in Karnataka State Police, during the check period from 2005 to 2013. Narayanaswamy, who is a private contractor, a was close friend of Shivanna.
According to CBI, Shivanna allegedly amassed wealth by corrupt means by abusing his official position and movable and immovable assets in his name and also in the name of his wife to the extent of Rs 2.47 crore against their known source of income of Rs 88.68 lakh, during the check period.
Therefore, he possesses assets disproportionate to his known source of income to the tune of Rs 1.58 crore (179 %), which Shivanna could not satisfactorily explain. His wife Manjula Kumari has abated him to commit the offence to acquire movable and immovable properties in her name. Narayana Swamy had facilitated Shivanna to channel the illegitimate money earned by him for the acquisition of properties.