A Bharuch court Friday sentenced a policeman and a retired police officer to 13 years of imprisonment in a 19 year-old theft case of Rs 25 lakh cash kept in police custody.
The court of Chief Judicial Magistrate P D Jethva also convicted another police officer who died during the trial.
The three convicts are identified as Rasik Vasava, who retired three years ago, Ashwin Katara, who died during the case trial, and Rajendra Patel, who is still serving in the police department in North Gujarat.
The case dates back to 2003 when the Bharuch Local crime branch officials had carried out raids in an STD PCO at Mohammedpura area in and busted Hawala racket. Police had seized Rs 25 lakh cash from the spot, which was kept in B-Division police station in 2003.
The keys of police custodian room, where cash was kept, was with Rasik Vasava, who was then crime head writer of B-Division police station.
Vasava alongwith constables Rajendra Patel and Ashwin Vasava, stole the amount and were arrested and later suspended from their jobs. Police had also recovered stolen cash from their possession.
However, the three policemen got bail and were reinstated in the job. During the trial, Vasvasa died due to illness.
On Friday, the court sentenced the three policemen to 13 years of imprisonment, which includes seven years imprisonment under IPC Section 409, three years under IPC Section 119, two years under IPC Section 120(b) and one year imprisonment under IPC Section 201.
Reacting to the verdict, public prosecutor A B Ghasura said, “We are satisfied with the court order and the court was convinced on the charges levelled against the policemen.”
However, defense lawyer N M Shaikh said they will challenge the verdict in the higher court after going through the judgment.