VIJAY DEO JHA
Ranchi, March 28: The former HRD minister and Mandar MLA, Bandhu Tirkey has been held guilty in the disproportionate assets case in which he was facing investigation and trial for the past decade.
The court of Special Judicial Commissioner and CBI Prabhat Kumar Sharma awarded him three years of rigorous imprisonment. The court found him guilty under various sections of IPC and Prevention of Corruption Act. The court also imposed a fine of Rs 3 lakh.
With this, Bandhu Tirkey will lose membership in the Jharkhand assembly. Under the Representation of People Act as well as in the light of the Supreme Court’s judgment he stands disqualified. According to the law if a public representative is convicted with a minimum of two years of imprisonment, he or she shall lose membership. Bandhu Tirkey will be disqualified from contesting the election. The law says that such conviction shall continue to be disqualified for a further period of six years since his release.
The case RC 5 (A)/ 2010 was lodged against him by the CBI for possessing disproportionate assets worth Rs 7.22 Lakh. During the trial, the CBI produced 21 witnesses whereas Bandhu Titkey produced eight witnesses to prove his innocence. The investigation and the trial of this case always kept him on the tenterhook.
In 2008, petitioner Durga Oraon filed a PIL filed before Jharkhand High Court to seek a probe of the assets of the then chief minister Madhu Koda and his cabinet ministers. After the High Court’s ruling, the CBI took up the investigation from the Vigilance Bureau. It registered cases in 2010 against Koda and his ministers. An inspector rank official of the CBI, SS Pari was asked to investigate the case of Bandhu Tirkey.
In March 2013, the CBI filed a closure report before the court. The agency apparently considered the value of disproportionate assets very low. The CBI submitted that the disproportionate assets were only 30 percent excess of the actual earnings of Bandhu Tirtkey during the check period of 2005 and 2009.
But the special CBI court of AK Mishra rejected the closure report. The court said that there is no such precedent and there is no law that states a case will be investigated only if disproportionate assets were above 30 percent. Bandhu Tirkey even challenged the court order but even after a prolonged legal battle, he did not get any relief. The CBI freshly investigated the case and charges were framed against him in January 2019.
