CHANDIGARH: Twenty-seven years after he was booked under Sections of the Corruption Act for acquiring properties in his own name and also of family members disproportionate to his known sources of income, a special CBI court pronounced Colonel BS Goraya (retired) guilty on Friday.
The sentence will be pronounced on August 22.
According to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), between January 1, 1987, and August 8, 1990, Goraya and some family members acquired properties valued at ₹82.6 lakh. Of these, properties valued at ₹72.7 lakh were disproportionate, the CBI had claimed. The agency also claimed that the then Colonel General Staff (Engineer headquarters, Western Command) had amassed property by corrupt and illegal means which was disproportionate to his known sources of income.
He was found in possession of several immovable properties during this time which were acquired by him in his name or in the name of his family members including his wife Parveen Goraya, daughter Manveen Goraya and one Guninder Singh.
A case was registered under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, against Goraya in August 1990 against Sector-9 resident. The CBI had also pointed that during the investigation that Goraya had not paid any property return except in the year 1987.
He has been held guilty under sections 13 (2), 13 (1) of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
DEVELOPMENTS IN THE CASE SINCE FEBRUARY
In February this year, the court of chief judicial magistrate (CJM) Akshdeep Mahajan sentenced Goraya to two-year rigorous imprisonment for selling his agricultural property that had been attached in Punjab.
He has also been fined ₹20,000 under Section 206 (fraudulent removal or concealment of property to prevent its seizure as forfeited or in execution) of the IPC on the convict.
He had pleaded for leniency stating that he was 75 and had to support his wife and other family members.
The agricultural land of the retired army officer, a resident of Sector 9, was attached during the investigation of this Prevention of Corruption Act case. As per court instructions, he was not entitled to sell his land. The court of special CBI judge had filed a complaint against the accused in the court of then CJM.
In March, the HC dismissed a plea in the case in which Goraya had challenged the trial court decision of not allowing examination of additional 84 witnesses in July 2016. Senior public prosecutor Pawan Dogra and public prosecutor KP Singh represented the CBI.
