Former minister Sukhram gets 3 years jail; fined Rs2 lakh in disproportionate asset case

Former union minister for communications, Sukhram, has been sentenced to a 3-year jail term today 13 years after a case of disproportionate assets was filed against him in a Delhi Court.

The court also ordered the forfeiture of Rs4.25 crore amassed by Sukhram, 82, during his tenure as a cabinet minister in the P V Narasimha Rao government and slapped a fine of Rs2 lakh.

Sukhram, however, has been granted bail by Special CBI Judge V K Maheshwari and will appeal against the conviction in the Delhi High Court.

''A corrupt public servant is a menace to the society. Political corruption is the worst form because its consequences are far reaching. When our leaders who are the role models of the society, whose every action should be above the board, are themselves corrupt, how can we expect honesty and virtue from public at large,'' the judge observed.

The CBI had, during a raid conducted in August 1996, seized Rs2.45 crore in cash stashed in his bed at his official residence in Delhi and Rs1.16 crore from his house in Mandi in Himachal Pradesh.