SC suspends sentence of Bihar officer, questions claim of rodents destroying bribe money

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has suspended the sentence of a Bihar government officer convicted under the Prevention of Corruption Act and granted her bail, while expressing serious concern over the prosecution’s claim that seized bribe money was destroyed by rodents.

A Bench of Justices J.B. Pardiwala and K.V. Viswanathan was hearing a Special Leave Petition (SLP) filed by Aruna Kumari, a former Child Development Programme Officer, challenging a judgment of the Patna High Court which had reversed her acquittal.

The trial court had earlier acquitted Kumari of charges under Sections 7 and 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988. However, the Patna High Court convicted her and sentenced her to four years’ Rigorous Imprisonment under Section 13(2) and three years under Section 7 of the Act.

Taking note of the submissions made by senior advocate S. Nagamuthu appearing for the petitioner, the apex court issued a notice and ordered that “the substantive order of sentence passed by the High Court is suspended,” directing that the appellant be released on bail subject to conditions to be imposed by the trial court.

During the hearing, the Justice Pardiwala-led Bench also flagged a troubling aspect of the prosecution case recorded in the Patna High Court judgment — that the currency notes allegedly recovered as bribe were destroyed by rodents due to poor storage conditions in the police malkhana.

“We are taken by surprise that the currency notes got destroyed by rodents,” the apex court observed.