A CBI court has sentenced two former officials of the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), who were held guilty in the Rs 88 lakh International Subscriber Dialling (ISD) fraud case, to two years' imprisonment, an official said on Sunday.
The Special CBI Court, Lucknow, sentenced Hari Ram Shukla and Gulab Chand Chaurasia - former Sub-Divisional Engineers (SDE), Group Exchange, BSNL, Gorakhpur - to two years' imprisonment along with a fine of Rs 10 lakh each.
A third accused, Siyaram Agrahari, was acquitted of all the charges levelled against him, the CBI said in a statement.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) registered the case on September 18, 2008, based on information against Hari Ram Shukla, the then SDE Group Exchange, BSNL, Gorakhpur; Gulab Chand Chaurasia, the then SDE Group Exchange, BSNL, Gorakhpur; and Siya Ram Agrahari, the then Junior Telecom Officer, BSNL, Gorakhpur.
The probe agency had also filed cases against various Public Call Office (PCO) owners on the allegation that the accused persons entered into a criminal conspiracy to illegally provide an international call facility.
The racket involved six PCO owners and 18 individual telephone subscribers who, between September 2003 and September 2004, caused a loss to the government's telecom company by unauthorisedly making international telephone calls.
The said PCO owners and individual telephone subscribers made a large number of unauthorised ISD calls directly through Trunk Automatic Exchange (TAX) instead of Bansgaon Telephone Exchange, as a result of which these calls were not metered in the Exchange, resulting in a wrongful loss to the tune of Rs 88.42 lakh.
After investigation, CBI filed the chargesheet on May 1, 2010, against Hari Ram Shukla, Gulab Chand Chaurasia and Siya Ram Agrahari.
The CBI said in a statement, "The Court, after trial, convicted and sentenced the two accused accordingly. The Trial court has acquitted Siyaram Agrahari of all the charges levelled against him."
(With inputs from IANS)
