Following a sting operation in which Anil Sethi, state additional advocate general was videographed accepting money to obtain a favourable judgement from his father and chairman of the State accountability Commission, the Jammu and Kashmir government issued orders of his termination.The orders of termination of Anil Sethi son of the state accountability commission chairman Justice Retired R P Sethi will be issued on Monday, according to highly placed sources in Srinagar.
The accountability commission chairman Justice Retired R P Sethi, a retired judge of the Supreme Court also issued an order directing the state director general of police to register a criminal case against all the accused including his son, Anil Sethi.
In the sting operation Anil had been videographed while accepting money from one of the accused in the multi-million Panchayat house electrification scam in the state, which is being heard by his father as chairman of the State accountability commission.
In the sting operation Anil Sethi is shown striking a deal of two million rupees for promising a favourable judgement from his father in the case.
The accused in the multi-million scam include two dozens senior officials of the state rural development department, a bank manager and a local contractor have been booked for swindling Rupees two crores from the ex-chequer for electrification of the Panchayat houses in the two districts of Anantnag and Baramulla where preliminery investigation showed that no electrification works had been carried out anywhere at the stated sites.
In the video tape shot in a local hotel by a hidden camera, Anil Sethi is seen accepting half a million rupees as a first installment of the deal while he was supposed to receive another installment of Rs 5 lakhs on November 14, a day before the case was listed for hearing in the accountability commission.
After a favourable disposal of the case the balance amount was to be paid to Anil Sethi, as revealed in the videotape.
The commission took a suomoto notice of the scam in September this year and took multi-point actions in issuing notices to the 25 accused officials, a local manager of the Vijaya bank and a contractor.
It also issued directions for conduct of an on the spot inspection of Panchayat houses in all the districts of the state by two deputy inspector general of police. The commission also ordered attachment of bank accounts and immovable property of the contractor, Mustaq Ahmad Ganaie.
As the details of the sting operation where broken by newspapers in Sunday's issues and the sting operation became the talk of the town, Justice R P Sethi passed an order as chairman of the commission directing police to, "...register a criminal case against all those persons who are reported to be involved in the conspiracy against the accountability commission, including my son, Anil Sethi."
"The investigating agency shall not be influenced by any consideration of Anil Sethi being related to me," the order said. It said, "The commission found irregularities, negligence and non-performance by the concerned minister of Rural Development Department."
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