A special court in Patna has convicted two officers from India’s Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), the border security force, for stealing seized goods worth about 2.4 million rupees. The ruling came on Wednesday and highlights ongoing fights against corruption in India’s security agencies.
Vijay Kumar Jha, who was an assistant commandant at the time, and Apurva Sarkar, a sub-inspector, both from the 19th Battalion in Bathnaha near Forbesganj, got one year in rigorous prison each. The court also fined them 50,000 rupees apiece.
The trouble started back in 2009, when the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) got a tip about a scheme involving these officers and their then-deputy commandant, Anand Kumar. They allegedly conspired to grab a truck full of betel nuts that the SSB had seized during operations. Instead of following the rules, the officers diverted the valuable cargo for their own profit, abusing their positions as public servants.
CBI jumped on the information and opened a case right away. Investigators dug deep and filed charges in July 2012 against Kumar, Jha, and Sarkar. Sadly, Kumar died during the trial, so the case moved forward just against the other two.
After reviewing all the evidence, the CBI court said the charges stuck under India’s Penal Code and the Prevention of Corruption Act. The judges made it clear: no room for graft in forces protecting India’s borders, especially when seized goods like betel nuts keep disappearing in these kinds of scandals.
This conviction serves as a strong reminder that India’s justice system is cracking down hard on corruption in border guards and security forces.
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