'Huge revenue loss’: SC says over claim of rodents damaging seized cash in Bihar corruption case

The Supreme Court expressed surprise after learning that currency notes allegedly seized from an accused in a corruption case in Bihar were reportedly destroyed by rodents, according to PTI.

A bench comprising Justices J B Pardiwala and K V Viswanathan questioned how such seized cash could be damaged and wondered how many similar cases might exist where currency notes were not stored safely. The court described it as a “huge revenue loss” for the state.

The matter came up during the hearing of a plea filed by a woman who had been convicted and sentenced to four years in prison in a corruption case.

According to the allegations, the woman, Aruna Kumari, who was serving as a Child Development Programme Officer in 2014, had reportedly demanded and accepted a bribe of ₹10,000 from the complainant. She was booked under Sections 7 and 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, as per reports.

The Supreme Court, which had earlier exempted the woman from surrendering until further orders, granted her bail and suspended the sentence imposed by the Patna High Court.

The bench noted, “We have also taken notice of something which we should not ignore.” Referring to a paragraph in the high court’s February last year judgment, it pointed out that the seized currency notes were reported to have been destroyed by rats and rodents because of the poor condition of the ‘Malkhana’ where they were stored.

“We are taken by surprise that the currency notes got destroyed by rodents. We wonder how many such currency notes recovered in this type of offence get destroyed, as they are not kept in a safe place. It's a huge revenue loss for the State,” the Supreme Court mentioned in its April 24 order.

The court said the justification given for the damage to the cash did not appear convincing.

The bench added that it would examine the matter in detail when the main case comes up for hearing.

The apex court was hearing the woman’s plea challenging the high court verdict that had convicted her in the corruption case. It also noted that the trial court had earlier acquitted her of all charges, after which an appeal was filed before the high court.

According to the CBI, a case was registered on Tuesday against head constable Ajay and some unidentified persons after a complaint alleged that he had demanded ₹15 lakh.

The agency said that during searches conducted at the Dwarka anti-narcotics cell office, cash worth ₹48.87 lakh was recovered and seized.

A CBI spokesperson mentioned in a statement, “It was alleged that the accused head constable and others demanded a bribe of ₹15 lakh for not falsely implicating the woman in a case.” It noted that the accused had asked the complainant to deliver a part payment of ₹5 lakh by Tuesday.

Based on the complaint, the CBI laid a trap on the same day and caught the accused red-handed while allegedly accepting ₹2 lakh as part of the total bribe amount of ₹15 lakh.

The accused head constable has been arrested, the agency added.

(With inputs from agency)