Observing that the case against him “highlights institutionalised corruption” involving politicians and bureaucrats, a special court Monday sentenced former Congress Union minister P K Thungon to four-and-a-half years of rigorous imprisonment. The court held Thungon guilty of criminal conspiracy and corruption in a 1998 graft case pertaining to misappropriation of funds to the tune of Rs 2 crore meant for an irrigation project in Nagaland. Putting the crime in the context of the position he held, the court observed, “Convict P K Thungon remained the chief minister of Arunachal Pradesh as well as held the minster portfolio in central government. The poor people of Nagaland were cheated through the acts of the convict. He shall undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of four-and-a-half years,” Special Judge Ajay Kumar Jain said. [related-post] Thungon was charged under section 120 B (criminal conspiracy) read with section 419 (cheating by personation), 420 (cheating), 467 (forgery of valuable security), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating) and 471 (using as genuine a forged document) of the IPC as well as under provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act. The court, however, said it had taken into account Thungon’s “contribution” in the integration of Arunachal Pradesh with rest of the country and the length of the trial while awarding the sentence. Thungon, the minister of state for urban affairs and employment in the P V Narasimha Rao government, was also the chief minister of Arunachal Pradesh from August 1975 to September 1979. The court also imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on him. The court awarded three-and-a-half years in jail to two other convicts, Tali A O and C Sangit, and two-and-a-half years to the fourth convict, Mahesh Maheshwari. The case against Thungon and three others was registered by the CBI in 1998. The CBI had chargesheeted 10 people, including Thungon, in 2003. It was alleged that Thungon, in conspiracy with Maheshwari, fraudulently got a bank account opened in 1994 under the name Thanu Thungan, a non-existent person.
