Mysuru: City’s First Additional CJM Court has sentenced a retired Panchayat Development Officer (PDO) to five years rigorous imprisonment for irregularities he had committed while in service.

The retired PDO, who was sentenced to jail, is Nagegowda. He had served as the PDO at Belavadi Gram Panchayat between Sept. 13, 2013 and Jan. 6, 2014 before retiring from service.

As per Government order, after land conversion, it is compulsory to take approval of the plan from the Town and Country Planning Department, scan the order number and layout plan and upload the same to e-swathu software.

But Nagegowda failed to follow the Government order and had entered a false order number in Form-9 without taking approval from the Town and Country Planning Department. He had later uploaded the plan in e-swathu software by falsely stating that the plan had been approved, thus cheating the Government.

In the e-swathu software, as per the Government rule, Second Division Assistant (SDA), later Gram Panchayat Secretary and later the PDO should login to the software in three stages,                            enter the details and distribute Form-9 and Form-11.

But the PDO had logged in to the software in the three stages and had entered the details illegally pertaining to 85 cases in 69/1A and 69/1B limits in Belavadi Survey No. 326.

During interrogation, it was found that Nagegowda had betrayed the trust, cheated and committed fraud, following which the Police had submitted a charge-sheet to the Court.

First Additional CJM Court Judge A.G. Shilpa, who took up the hearing, found accused Nagegowda guilty of the crime and sentenced him to five years rigorous imprisonment besides imposing a fine of Rs. 20,000.

Senior Public Prosecutor of the First Additional CJM Court argued on behalf of the Government.