In July 2016, Dr Jitendra Gupta, an IAS officer who was posted as Sub Divisional Magistrate in Mohaniya, Bihar, was wrongly implicated in a case of bribery and had to spend a month in jail.
His humiliation and ordeal ended when the Supreme Court exonerated him of all charges last week and agreed with the Patna High Court that he was “framed”.
Falsehoods and Acquittal
Gupta is an officer from the 2013 batch and in July 2016, given the growing mafia-police nexus, he decided to take it head-on.
The “Entry Mafia” lodged a vigilance complaint against the young officer, alleging he seized 4 trucks on 3 July 2016 and later demanded a bribe for releasing them.
He spoke with The Quint and talked about what happened after he was accused of corruption.
As per the government’s directive, I took strict, lawful action against overloading of vehicles. Since Mohania has an interstate border between UP and Bihar and also has an integrated check post, transport-related crime is rampant there. Annoyed with my official action, the ‘entry’ mafia lodged a false complaint with the Vigilance Department against me.
He said that without any evidence, he was arrested in the middle of the night and jailed for a month. After being released on bail, Gupta proved the FIR against him was fabricated, and it was quashed by the Patna High Court on 28 October 2016.
In the High Court, it was proved that the alleged incident of seizure of trucks by me never actually happened. The prosecution also admitted this. They tried changing the story, which contradicted their own previous version and the truckers’ affidavits. This convinced the court that the FIR was false.
Demand of a bribe, acceptance, and recovery of the bribe by enforcement agencies, which are the three essentials of a corruption case, were missing in Gupta’s case. And the SC also ruled that Gupta was falsely implicated.
IAS Officers’ Association Backs Gupta
Gupta’s clean record got him the backing of the Bihar IAS Officers Association, who wanted his name to be cleared of the charges.
The Association’s Treasurer Dipak Singh spoke to The Quint.
The association of IAS officers supported him as we knew he had a clean record. The case was framed against him even after no evidence was recovered. We submitted a memorandum to the government and wrote to the Governor and Chief Minister to assess the case. As for the people who framed him, we have asked for a judicial enquiry to reveal the truth of the matter.
Gupta said that his legal expenses were borne by the Association and said the memorandum also mentioned, “the Mafia is growing so powerful in the state that it has started challenging the State’s might”.
The investigating officer of the case misled court and Government by falsely writing in his forwarding letter that I was caught red handed with Rs 80,000 being recovered from me. However, the solution turned pink when phenolphthalein test was conducted on my hands, showing that I was being framed.
Embarrassment for Nitish Kumar’s Government
The case has embarrassed the Nitish Kumar government, which suspended the officer over dubious charges.
The Patna HC quashed the FIR after it pointed out glitches in the investigation.
The most glaring error was that on 3 July, the truck was not parked where it was said to be by the prosecution but was nearly 200 km away in Jharkhand, according to documental evidence given by Gupta.
Gupta’s Work
Since getting appointed to service, Gupta did a lot of work in Mohania, for the city’s betterment.
While speaking to The Quint, Singh also said that after the HC judgement, the suspension against Gupta was dropped and he received a different posting. Now, he is posted as the Officer on Special Duty (OSD) in the Ministry of Forest and Environment.
Gupta has maintained an exemplary record of service after he became a civil servant.
His work includes a tree plantation programme in Mohania, completion of a power transmission line in Kundra, a massive anti-encroachment drive, organising enormous campaigns for “Save the Girl Child”, “Clean Indian Mission” and “Say No to Alcohol”.
Apart from these, he also undertook the successful completion of pending development work such as Vehicular Under Pass (VUP) on NH2 and organising a grand Republic Day celebration in Mohania in 2016.
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