Dept probe against ex-DGP

CHANDIGARH, Sept 4: Having been snubbed by the Ministry of Home Affairs MHA twice on the issue of prosecution, the Haryana government h...

CHANDIGARH, Sept 4: Having been snubbed by the Ministry of Home Affairs MHA twice on the issue of prosecution, the Haryana government has instituted a departmental enquiry into the sensational bribe case against Ramesh Sehgal, a 1963 batch IPS officer of the Haryana cadre.

The official, who was Director-General Prisons in Haryana, was arrested by the State Vigilance Department in December, 1996, for allegedly accepting illegal gratification of Rs 50,000 from a local businessman, to grant Class-B facilities to a convict and to extend his parole.

Sources said the departmental enquiry into the charges against the suspended police officer will be conducted by state Financial Commissioner and Secretary Finance A. N. Mathur. The probe, which was ordered by Home Secretary K. G. Verma last month, is being conducted for major penalty proceedings against the officer under Rule 8 of the All Indian Services Discipline and Appeal Rules, 1969.

The state authorities had favoured prosecution of Sehgal under the Prevention of Corruption Act, but their request of permission was turned down twice by the Home Ministry on February 9 and May 29, 1998. Instead, it gave permission to initiate enquiry for major penalty proceedings. In fact, the issue of prosecution had caused a major rift between the two sides, with both trading charges.

While the Haryana government said that it had a 8220;fool-proof8221; case against the accused, the Home Ministry disagreed, saying that the case had a number of 8220;legal and procedural lapses, which may cause embarrassment8221;.

The state government had retaliated by accusing the Home Ministry of nit-picking and unnecessarily delaying the matter. 8220;Whatever evidence we have collected is quite clearly consistent with the guilt of Sehgal. And prudence demands that the case be put before the court of law for a decision either way,8221; it wrote.

The government had also considered the option of legally contesting the Home Ministry8217;s decision, but decided against it. The trouble between the sides started when the state government sought sanction for prosecution on April 23, 1997, but the Ministry wrote back, raising doubts about the procedures followed by the raiding vigilance party. It also sought clarification regarding the allegations made by Sehgal that the trap was a conspiracy hatched by a powerful Haryana Minister Karan Singh Dalal, to fix him.

Story continues below this ad

In its response, the Haryana government denied that there was any lacuna in the case. However, the Home Ministry was not convinced and it refused permission to give sanction through an order of February 9, 1998. Later, Haryana Chief Secretary R S Verma sought a review of the decision but the request was turned down by the Home Ministry, which continued to have doubts about procedural lapses and evidence.