Thaindian News

New Delhi, June 10 (IANS) Corruption has become a gigantic problem and both public and private sectors are touched by it, a Delhi court has said while sentencing a policeman to two-year jail in a graft case.

“Forget about eliminating corruption in the society, nowadays even containing corruption is proving to be a difficult task,” said Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Special Judge Rajiv Mehra, while awarding two years’ jail term to head constable Inderpal Singh.

The court said that corruption like a contiguous disease had grown unbridled in the whole of the country.

“No department whether public or private is untouched from corruption,” the court said in an order June 5.

The court also awarded six months’ imprisonment to the head constable’s associate Devender Prasad Yadav.

The court slapped a Rs.5,000 fine on Singh and Rs.500 on Yadav.

According to complainant Dharamvir Singh, an autorickshaw driver, head constable Inderpal Singh, posted at New Ashok Nagar police station in east Delhi, demanded Rs.2,000 from him May 1, 2005 during a probe into a dispute involving him.

“He had some dispute with autorickshaw owner G. Mohan for which both of them were brought to police station. G. Mohan was released after a payment of Rs.1,000 whereas the complainant was detained,” said the complainant.

Inderpal Singh demanded Rs.2,000 from the complainant and threatened that if the money was not be paid, he would implicate him in a false case.

The complainant approached the CBI against the policeman May 3, 2005. The probe agency laid a trap and caught the accused while accepting the bribe.