Aizawl, Oct 30: Special Court (Prevention of Corruption Act) in Aizawl on Monday sentenced Lydia Lalhruaitluangi (32), former muster roll employee of Mizoram Law and Judicial department to 4 years imprisonment and a fine of Rs 1 crore, in default payment of the fine she has to undergo additional prison term of 50 years.
Special Judge HTC Lalrinchhana pronounced the sentence of Lalhruaitluangi who was convicted on Friday and remanded to judicial custody.
According to Lalrinchhana’s order, the court sentenced Lalhruaitluangi under sections 13 (1) (a), (b)/13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 to undergo 4 years imprisonment with a fine of Rs. 20 lakhs, in default, another imprisonment of 10 years. Sentenced under section 406 Indian Penal Code (IPC) to undergo 4 years imprisonment with a fine of Rs. 20 lakhs, in default, another imprisonment of 10 years.
She was also sentenced under section 420 IPC to undergo 4 years imprisonment with a fine of Rs. 20 lakhs, in default, another imprisonment of 10 years. Sentenced under section 468 IPC to undergo 4 years imprisonment with a fine of Rs. 20 lakhs, in default, another imprisonment of 10 years.Sentenced under section 471 IPC to undergo 4 years imprisonment with a fine of Rs. 20 lakhs, in default, another imprisonment of 10 years.
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“Being no previous criminal records, and being a woman with children, all the sentences except fine shall run concurrently,” the judge ruled, adding that the convict was sent to jail after the hearing.
The prosecution case was that the Under Secretary of the state Law and Judicial Department submitted an FIR on September 24, 2018, that they had detected a case of misappropriation of an unascertained amount of Government money in the Law and Judicial Department, Govt. of Mizoram, possibly running into several lakhs of rupees, mainly from budget head “Professional Service” allocated for payment of professional fees of govt. Advocates.
Lalhruaitluangi (then 27 years old) was employed in the said department on a muster roll basis from the year 2012 to August 21, 2018, and has been entrusted with the duty of assisting the cashier since September 2013 where she has actually been entrusted and trained and performing the task of Bill Assistant in the said department till August 6, 2018.
A “Special Audit” of the object head of “Professional Service” accounts of the Department was conducted from 28.8.2018 to 6.9.2018 and the SpecialAudit’s preliminary observation statement depicts that there is excess overbooked expenditure to the tune of Rs. 1.43 Crore under the said object head out of which. 81.43 lakh had been ascertained as a misappropriation amount from the available documents by the accused person.
The State Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) registered a criminal case against the accused on September 24, 2018, under sections 13(1)(c)/(d)/13(2) P.C. Act read with 468/471/406/420 IPC.
Again, during the course of the investigation, the complainant submitted a rejoinder FIR on 04.10.2019 stating that they had detected another misappropriation of government money amounting to Rs. 29,12,860/- committed by the same accused person, Lalhruaitluangi by preparing fake sanctions and bills from the head of ‘wages’, Office Expenses’ and ‘Other Charges’.
