A special CBI court of S.K. Pandey of Ranchi civil court on Monday sentenced the then director-general in-charge of Ranchi Doordarshan Kendra Shailesh Pandit, 64, with four years of rigorous imprisonment and slapped a fine of Rs 20,000 in a bribery case.

Pandey was arrested a day before his retirement in 2015 by a team of CBI’s anti-corruption branch officials while accepting a bribe of Rs 5,000 from a contractor at his official Ratu residence, sending shockwaves in the capital’s intellectual circles.

“We had set a trap following a tip-off against him. The charges against him were proved. He was proved guilty under sections 7 and 13 (2) of Prevention of Corruption Act. If he fails to deposit penalty amount, he will have to undergo an additional six months of simple imprisonment,” a CBI official said.

Pandit, who served Ranchi’s Doordarshan Kendra for three consecutive terms as deputy director and director in-charge, is apparently the first academician and intellectual of Jharkhand who was tried and sentenced by the court.

Realty scam cuffs

In another development, PMLA court headed by A.K. Mishra of Ranchi civil court on Monday forwarded Shyam Kishore Gupta to 10 days in police custody in a money-laundering case.

Gupta was the director of Sanjivani Buildcon Private Limited.

He along with company managing director Jayant Dayal Nandi, Nandi’s two wives Anamika and Anita and other office-bearers had cheated hundreds of investors of around Rs 80 crore on the pretext of providing them land and houses.

Gupta was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate four days back, but he told the court that he was suffering from a number of ailments and not in a condition to undergo police interrogation.

He also claimed that the Enforcement Directorate had forcibly declared him medically fit. However, the court rejected his argument.

“He is one of the kingpins of the scam hence his questioning is required. During investigation we gathered crucial details about the scam,” said an ED official.