Kashmir Impulse Desk

Srinagar, May 1 

A court in Anantnag has sentenced five former food supply department officials to three years’ simple imprisonment in a decades-old case related to the misappropriation of food grains and empty bags in Pahalgam circle in 1990.

Special Judge, Anti-Corruption Court Anantnag, Masarat Roohi, convicted Abdul Khaliq Shah, Ghulam Nabi Mir, Muhammad Shafi Rather, Ghulam Hassan Hajam and Muzaffar Ahmad Bichoo under Section 5(2) of the Jammu and Kashmir Prevention of Corruption Act, 2006, read with Section 409 of the Ranbir Penal Code, in FIR No. 09/1990 registered at Police Station VOK, now the Anti-Corruption Bureau.

The court sentenced each convict to two years’ simple imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh under the Prevention of Corruption Act. In default of payment, they will undergo an additional six months’ imprisonment.

Under Section 409 RPC, relating to criminal breach of trust by a public servant, the court awarded three years’ simple imprisonment along with a fine of Rs 2 lakh each. Failure to pay the fine would attract an additional one year of simple imprisonment.

The court directed that both substantive sentences would run concurrently.

According to the prosecution, the accused, all serving as storekeepers in different food supply centres in Pahalgam circle, misappropriated food grains and empty bags between April 1989 and Sept. 11, 1989.

The case was registered after a complaint filed on Nov. 2, 1989, by the Deputy Director of the Food and Supplies Department Srinagar alleging embezzlement worth Rs 3.64 lakh.

Following investigation, a chargesheet was filed on Sept. 9, 2003, after which the case proceeded to trial.