NEW DELHI, Nov 18: Senior Jammu and Kashmir PDP leader Mohd Dilawar Mir’s plea seeking suspension of his conviction and three-year jail term was today opposed by CBI which argued before the Delhi High Court that there was ample evidence against him.
Appearing before a bench of Justice Sudershan Kumar Misra, counsel for Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) contended that Mir’s suspension of conviction and sentence was unwarranted.
“There is clear-cut evidence and ample evidence against him (Mir). The trial court has rightly convicted him,” the CBI counsel said.
Mir approached the High Court seeking suspension of his conviction and sentence to pave the way for him to contest coming Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections.
Mir’s move came as under Representation of the People Act, a person convicted in corruption case can contest election only after his conviction is suspended by a higher court.
67-year-old Mir, who is general secretary of PDP, was named by his party as a candidate for the upcoming polls from Rafiabad seat of North Kashmir.
The high court, after hearing the arguments, posted the matter for tomorrow.
Mir, a member of former cabinet of Mufti Mohd Sayeed, was sentenced to three years by a court here in a case related to wrongful release of Rs 30 lakh and contract for sale of urea to his firm by public sector National Fertilizers Limited in 1993-1996.
While Mir, who was a former Minister in Mufti Mohd Sayeed’s cabinet, was awarded three years imprisonment and a asked to pay a fine of Rs 3.21 crore, a special CBI court had sentenced 77-year-old Dilbagh Singh Kanwar, the then General Manager of NFL, to two-and-half-year jail term.
Though Mir was released on bail and his sentence suspended by the trial court till January two, 2015, he will not be able to contest the coming elections.
Mir was then the proprietor of M/s Good Friends Agencies which was wrongly awarded the contract for sale of urea, the court had said.
The court had imposed a fine of Rs 3.21 crore and Rs two lakh on Mir and Kanwar respectively. Out of Mir’s fine amount, Rs 3.19 crore would be given NFL as compensation.
Kanwar and Mir were convicted for criminal conspiracy under IPC and criminal conduct and abuse of position by public servant under Prevention of Corruption Act.
The court had, however, allowed their bail plea and suspended their sentence till January two to enable them to file an appeal against their conviction and sentence. Both the convicts were released on bail till then on furnishing of a bond and surety.
As per CBI case registered in 1998, Kanwar had abused his position as public servant to favour Mir and as a result of a criminal conspiracy between the two, they had defrauded state-owned NFL of Rs 30 lakhs and attempted to cheat NFL of over Rs 6.78 crore during 1993-96.
The agency had said Kanwar had awarded a handling and general services contract to Mir’s firm for sale of urea at exorbitant rate in Haryana and Punjab without inviting tenders.
Kanwar in conspiracy with NFL officials Anil Kumar Sharma and M A Sarma had paid Rs 30 lakhs to Mir even though the firm had not fulfilled any contractual obligation. The accused knew that the firm had submitted false bills at the zonal office in Chandigarh for claiming payments, it had said. (Agencies)
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