After 13 years of the matter being registered, the sessions court on Thursday held suspended additional commissioner of police Ajay Kumar Jain and wife Anita Jain guilty and sentenced the couple to three years imprisonment in a disproportionate assets case worth around `32 lakh. It also slapped a fine of `25,000 each.
In a separate case, Jain was earlier sentenced to five years in prison for seeking a `5 lakh bribe from a junior in lieu of protection in a departmental inquiry. He was out on bail that was granted by the Bombay high court.
While reading out the order, Special Judge V. A. Daulatabadkar said, “In the case of a default, both the accused will have to serve three months rigorous imprisonment. There is no need for a separate order for the attachment of the disproportionate assets.”
Terming an appeal for bail as Jain’s constitutional right, the court asked him and Anita to furnish a bail bond of `50,000 each.
The matter dates back to 1995 when an open inquiry in the matter was ordered. The state home department had received an anonymous letter in the year 1990 against Jain where it was alleged that a Kandivali slumlord by the name Birender Shukla had gifted Jain a Maruti car.
According to investigation officer of the anti-corruption bureau, Arun Wahable, Jain was involved in several cases of converting “black money into white”. “Jain and one Kasliwal, the owner of the fictitious ‘Coopergaon Estate’, were working in tandem. Jain and his family had flats in the building that existed only on paper. Kasliwal later filed an ‘eviction suit’ to which Jain gave his consent, but demanded `5 lakh,” said Mr Wahable, adding that Jain himself gave the amount in cash and asked him to return it by cheque.
“The common link between the two was their chartered accountant P.C. Lodha, who is an accused in the graft case against Jain,” said Mr Wahable.