Palamu, August 31, 2026: A special anti-corruption court in Palamu has sentenced former Bishrampur Block Supply Officer Ramesh Chandra Prasad to five years of rigorous imprisonment in a bribery case dating back to 2014. The court also imposed a total fine of ₹45,000 on him.
Special Judge Raj Kumar Mishra pronounced the judgment in the case, which stemmed from a complaint that Prasad had demanded a bribe in exchange for permission to lift foodgrains.
Bribe allegedly sought for foodgrain lifting
According to the case, Bishrampur resident Monir Alam had approached the Anti-Corruption Bureau with a complaint against Prasad in 2014. The allegation was that the then Block Supply Officer demanded ₹10 per quintal for allowing the lifting of foodgrains.
The complainant said he was being asked to pay around ₹3,000 to ₹4,000 in illegal gratification for lifting three to four quintals of foodgrains each day.
Following verification of the complaint, a case was registered at Vigilance Ranchi police station as Case No. 33/2014 on October 15, 2014, under Sections 7 and 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
Caught accepting ₹3,000
During the investigation, Prasad allegedly demanded ₹3,000 from the complainant on October 17, 2014. The Anti-Corruption Bureau subsequently laid a trap and arrested him while he was allegedly accepting the amount in the presence of independent witnesses.
As part of the trap proceedings, both of Prasad’s hands were washed in a sodium carbonate solution. The solution turned pink after the hand-washing procedure, according to the case proceedings.
Based on the evidence and witness testimony presented before it, the court convicted Prasad in Vigilance Case No. 44/2014.
The court sentenced him to five years of rigorous imprisonment and imposed a ₹25,000 fine under Section 13(2) read with Section 13(1)(d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act. Failure to pay the fine would result in an additional three months of rigorous imprisonment.
He was also sentenced to four years of rigorous imprisonment and fined ₹20,000 under Section 7 of the Act, with another three months of imprisonment in case of non-payment.
The two prison sentences will run concurrently.
