• He was found illegally carrying Rs. 52 lakh to his native in Rajasthan 
• Sentenced to 3 years, 6 months in jail; Court slaps a fine of Rs. 52 lakh

Bengaluru: The Special Court for CBI Cases, Jaipur, has sentenced Bharat Lal Meena, a former Southern Railway Senior Divisional Engineer, Mysuru, to undergo three-and-a-half-years of rigorous imprisonment and slapped a fine of Rs. 52 lakh yesterday.

The case was registered on Dec. 22, 2002 when Bharat Lal Meena was caught travelling with his family with cash amounting to Rs. 52 lakh in a train from Mysuru to Sawai Madhopur. 

During a joint surprise check conducted at Sawai Madhopur, it was found that the accused was in possession of Rs. 31.90 lakh in one of his big suit cases and Rs. 20.10 lakh in another small suit case (in total Rs. 52 lakh).

Acting on a tip-off, the raiding team boarded the train and searched the luggage of Bharat Lal Meena, who was then a senior Divisional Engineer of Southern Railway Division in Mysuru. It was one of the biggest unaccounted cash haul then and had hit headlines. 

Meena, an Indian Railway Engineering Service Officer of the 1988 batch, was travelling to his home town on a holiday from his workplace in Mysuru. 

Bharat Lal Meena failed to give convincing reply on the sources of the money recovered from him, while being interrogated by the CBI.

While Meena could not offer any explanation, his wife and peon tried to come to his rescue. While the peon claimed that Rs. 4 lakh belonged to him and he had earned it from selling “gobi manchurian”, Meena’s wife claimed that Rs. 5 lakh was given to her by her father who had died 10 years ago. 

But a cross-examination could not corroborate these answers, a CBI spokesman said. Meena also said that he had a bank balance of Rs. 10 lakh. 

Investigations revealed that Meena had amassed assets amounting to Rs. 51.59 lakh through ill-gotten means and was transporting the cash in the train. 

CBI filed a charge sheet on Nov. 25, 2004 under Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 and charges were framed. The Trial Court found him guilty and convicted him.