(1.) THIS order will dispose of Criminal Misc. Nos. 19628 and 19595-M of 1998 filed by Gurpreet Singh, Sub Divisional Engineer, Municipal Corporation, Chandigarh and Harsh Kumar, Executive Engineer, Municipal Corporation, Chandigarh respectively claiming bail, as they have arisen from one and the same FIR i.e. FIR No. 1 dated 3.2.1998 under Sections 13(1)(a) (b) (c) (d) and 2 of the Prevention of Corruption Act read with Sections 406, 409 and 120-B of the Indian Penal Code registered at Police Station Vigilance Cell, Chandigarh.
(2.) FACTS of the case which culminated in the registration of the aforesaid case briefly stated are that search was conducted on the premises of K.K. Jerath, Chief Engineer, Union Territory, Chandigarh, some other officers of Engineering Department, Union Territory, Chandigarh as well as contractors and suppliers by the Investigation Wing of the Income Tax Department on 20/21.11.1997. As a result of search conducted at the house of K.K. Jerath, huge amount of cash, gold and jewellery and documents were recovered. The search was conducted in consequence of some information received by the CBI. During those raids, books of account/diaries were also recovered from the house of Dinesh Sharma, Suresh Sharma and Sunil Kalia co-accused. Examination of those diaries revealed that those persons were acting as middle men between K.K. Jerath and the Firms which were on DGS and D rate contract, supplying electrical and some public health goods to be Engineering Department, Union Territory, Chandigarh. Cash, jewellery and documents recovered from the house of K.K. Jerath were pointing to his possessions in disproportion to the known sources of this income. Diaries were found to contain entries in respect of kickbacks paid to K.K. Jerath and other officers/officials and diaries also contained records of the receipts and expenditures of those persons (Sharmas) during the period under reference and were more or less in the form of cash book. Huge amount was shown to have been paid to K.K. Jerath, his personal Assistant, Peon and other officials of the Engineering Department at various levels as commission. Investigation revealed that kickbacks to the tune of 32220/- was offered to Harsh Kumar, who surrendered on 19.6.1998 and was remanded to judicial custody. Harsh Kumar was Executive Engineer with the Municipal Corporation then.
(3.) PETROL /TA (Petrol and Travelling expenses)