Disproportionate assets case: Senior Customs official, wife convicted; properties worth Rs 1.13 cr to be forfeited

The CBI also said that its probe showed that the accused had not duly intimated Customs department as per services rules about the employment of his wife in a firm. The CBI claimed that as per its calculation based on the evidence before it, the disproportionate assets were valued at around Rs 1.30 crore, over 111.98 per cent above his salary income. The CBI also said that Singh’s wife’s wealth from known sources of her income was not sufficient to explain the proportion of assets amassed.

Singh in his defence had said that his wife had an independent source of income that was used to purchase several properties, for which he cannot be held accountable. It was also submitted that these were accounted for in her income tax returns but it was not considered by the CBI.

“Accused No 1 (Singh) public servant accumulated assets in the name of accused No 2 (Megha) as and by way of a smokescreen to shield the ill-gotten assets accumulated by him by abusing his official position. Accused No 2, being the wife of the accused No1 public servant, is privy to all transactions had an opportunity to shield the ill-gotten assets,” special Judge S H Gwalani said in his order on Friday.

Both were found guilty under relevant sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The court also pulled up the investigators for probing the case in a ‘casual manner’ and that they should have taken technical assistance from a chartered accountant to prevent errors in calculating the disproportionate assets.