The Delhi High Court on Thursday, 30 July, put on hold the 4-year jail term to which former Samata Party chief Jaya Jaitly had been sentenced to for corruption in a purported defence deal, PTI reported, seeking Central Bureau of Investigation’s response to her appeal challenging her conviction.
Jaitly and two others had been sentenced to four years in prison in a 2000-01 case by special CBI judge Virender Bhat on Thursday. Along with Jaitly, her former party colleague Gopal Pacherwal and Major General (retd) SP Murgai were also reportedly charged and sentenced. A fine of Rs 1 lakh had also been imposed on the trio.
In the case stemming from ‘Operation Westend’ sting aired by news outlet Tehelka, the three were held guilty of corruption and criminal conspiracy in the purported purchase of hand-held thermal imagers, PTI said.
The court reportedly held that the three, along with one Surender Kumar Surekha (who later turned approver) had engaged in criminal conspiracy between December 2000 and January of the following year in New Delhi, whereby the “illegal money” was accepted for obtaining orders from the army for the thermal imagers.
“The court observed that while Jaya Jaitly accepted Rs 2 lakh illegally from Mathew Samuel, a representative of fictional company Westend International, Maj Gen Murgai received Rs 20,000,” PTI reported.
The court also reportedly noted that in a meeting held at the then defence minister George Fernandes’ residence, “Samuel was introduced to Jaitly as a businessman whose company intends to enter the market of defence procurement.”
(With inputs from PTI)
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