Constable sent to jail for taking bribe

He demanded Rs 1,000 from auto driver

A Delhi Police official has been sentenced to two years in jail for demanding a bribe of Rs 1,000 from an auto driver to release his driving licence, with the trial court ruing that no public or private department is “untouched from corruption”.

Special judge Rajiv Mehra also imposed a fine of Rs 5,000 on suspended head constable Inderpal Singh, saying any leniency to him would send a “wrong message” to the society.

“The corruption now-a-days has become a gigantic problem. Corruption, like a contiguous disease, has gone unbound and unbridled in whole of the system in the country. Forget about eliminating the corruption in the society, now a days even containing corruption is proving to be difficult task.

“No department, whether public or private, is untouched from the corruption. The leniency as prayed by the convict would only send wrong message everywhere,” the court said.

Besides Inderpal Singh, who was posted as head constable at New Ashok Nagar police station in east Delhi here in 2005, the court also sentenced co-accused Devender Prasad Yadav, a roadside vendor who received the bribe on behalf of the head constable, to six months of rigorous imprisonment and also imposed a fine of Rs 500 on him.

The court, however, released both of them on bail till July 3, 2012 on a personal and surety bond of Rs 25,000 each to enable them to go in appeal against their conviction and sentence.

Both the accused were arrested by the CBI on a complaint by auto driver Dharamvir Singh, who alleged that Inderpal Singh had demanded bribe from him in May, 2005.

The complainant had said he was having dispute with his auto owner for which both of them were brought to the police station. The auto owner was released after paying Rs 1,000 but he was detained at the police station where bribe was demanded from him, Dharamvir Singh said.