HC Stays Conviction Of Odisha Govt Official In 15-Year-Old Bribe Case

Cuttack: The Orissa High Court here has stayed the conviction of a government official, who had allegedly taken Rs 5,000 bribe from a contractor to prepare his bills towards digging of well 15 years back, after treating it as “an exceptional case”.

The court was of the view that the prosecution had failed to establish beyond reasonable doubt its case against him. “Therefore, I am of the humble view that the petitioner has made out an exceptional case for grant of stay of conviction and thus, if the impugned judgment of conviction is not stayed/suspended, by the time the appeal is taken up for hearing and decided finally.. it would cause irreparable loss and injury coupled with irreversible consequences resulting in serious miscarriage of justice to the petitioner,” the single judge bench of Justice Sangam Kumar Sahoo ruled.

The court of special judge (vigilance), Cuttack, had sentenced assistant agricultural engineer Satchidananda Behera to two years of rigorous imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 following his conviction on May 31, 2023. Following which, Behera filed an appeal in the high court, challenging his conviction. The appeal was admitted on June 26, 2023, and bail was granted to him along with a stay order on realisation of the fine pending disposal of the matter.

In the stay order, Justice Sahoo observed that the trial court’s judgement was against the weight of evidence on record.