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| Mess deep in RTO office: 8 accused denied bail | | | Early Times Reort
Jammu, Jan 17- Special Judge Anticorruption, Jammu, BL Bhat today rejected the bail application of Deepak Sharma an employee of the RTO Office and 7 other agents namely Ashok Kumar Sachdeva, Daya Kumar, S Jagjit Singh, Avtar Singh, Tarlochan Singh, Jugal Kishore and Diwakar Singh, involved in the much publicized RTO Office raid case which was conducted by the Crime Branch officials on January 10, 2009.
Special Judge Anticorruption, after hearing CPO Bhupinder Singh appearing for the Crime Branch and advocates appearing for the petitioners, and also perusing the CD file, observed that investigation is at the very threshold and the record of office of RTO Jammu, the documents recovered from the petitioner as also the documents recovered from three private vehicles found parked in the premises of RTO Office, are yet to be subjected to meticulous scrutiny. The preliminary investigation has revealed that private agents were operating in RTO Office for obtaining vital documents relating to registration of vehicles/route permit and driving licenses. Recovery of documents of such nature from the possession of petitioners other than Deepak Sharma, found hovering around the RTO office, and their inability to explain possession of such documents can be explained on no hypothesis other than one they were procuring documents and driving licenses of private transport operators and individuals for consideration. Obviously this could not happen without the blessings of officials of RTO. This raises inference of a nexus between the private agents and officials of RTO. Larger interest of the community are involved and admission of petitioners on bail at this stage would expose the interest of societies to peril, more particularly as the investigation is still at the very initial stage and documents are yet to be subjected to detailed scrutiny. More over custodial interrogation of petitioners is imperative to ascertain their role in preparation of fake and forged documents as also for purpose of recovery of the materials used in preparation of such forged documents. Petitioner Deepak Sharma prima-facie appears to have swindled public money for making false entries in the record like GR and cash book. Release of petitioners on bail at this stage hampers investigation, confidence of public in role of law also bound to shutter. Offences other than section 420 RPC alleged against the petitioners are non-bailable and considerations governing judicial discretion in the peculiar facts of this case do not warrant grant of bail more over offence u/s 467 RPC is punishable with life-imprisonment. With these observations Court rejected the bail application.
According to the FIR the case was registered on January 10, 2009 u/s 420/465/467/468/471/120-B RPC r/w section 5(2) PC Act 2006 on the basis of source information wherein it was alleged that total fee deposited by transporters/ owners @ 6000 one time fee was not reflected in the cash register and instead of it, fee of two wheelers @ 250 to Rs 500 was shown to be deposited in the record maintained in the RTO Office thus misappropriating the balance amount . It was further alleged that the counterfoil of receipts had been destroyed after misappropriation. It was also alleged that Shiram Driving Institute had been issuing fake certificates for obtaining driving licenses of huge amounts from license holders in connivance with officials of RTO Jammu. No objection certificates and attestation of First Class Magistrate had also been fabricated by the private agents for obtaining transfer of ownership of vehicles. Senior officials of RTO Jammu were alleged to be involved in league with private agents, thus the state exchequer was allegedly being put to huge losses.
As a sequel to registration of case alleging bungling and large scale irregularities and misappropriation of Government funds, the Crime Branch raided the premises of RTO Jammu. Reportedly petitioners other than Deepak Sharma were found loitering around the premises raising suspicion of being offenders. Upon questioning petitioners failed to give a reasonable explanation for their presence in the premises of RTO Office Jammu. Their search yielded registration certificates, driving licenses, route permits issued by RTO Jammu, besides applications and forms for obtaining RC, RP and D/L and for transfer of ownership were recovered from their possession. Petitioners could not account for their possession of such documents. Deepak Sharma working in transport section of non-commercial vehicles in RTO Office since 4/5 years was found to have made false entries in GR and cash book and misappropriated token tax of many vehicles by adjusting token tax of two vehicles each in a single GR. A Maruti and two Santro cars found parked in the premises of RTO Office were searched which yielded documents pertaining to vehicles in bulk. The investigation revealed that the petitioners other than Deepak Sharma had been obtaining documents relating to vehicles from RTO Office Jammu by paying bribe and charging hefty amounts from the people applying for such documents. The private agents were operating in connivance with the officials of the RTO making the RTO Office as a hub of corruption. Petitioner Deepak Sharma had been misappropriating the fee and token tax amount, the FIR says. JNF
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