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Aizawl, Sept. 21: The anti-corruption special court here granted bail to two state PWD officials and one ex-official yesterday, inviting the wrath of anti-graft activists who have been demanding their imprisonment.
The trio — Mizoram PWD engineer-in-chief Lianchungnunga, accountant B. Lalthanpuia and retired engineer-in-chief Liansanga, who were arrested by the Anti-Corruption Bureau last month and then granted interim bail on August 17 by the special court on health grounds — deposited bail bonds of Rs 1 lakh each.
The three officials are accused in a case related to misappropriation of government funds meant for the Serkhan-Bagha road.
The anti-graft activists, who have been on the warpath since the beleaguered state government reluctantly suspended the two officials last week, resolved in a rally yesterday to seek the high court’s intervention to expose the circumstances under which the special court had granted interim bail to the officials on August 17 and its orders thereafter, which, according to the activists, amounted to miscarriage of justice.
They resolved to bring to the notice of the high court the fact that on August 17, the special court had kept its offices open for an hour beyond the normal working hours to receive the trio’s bail plea.
“We will not allow justice to be miscarried by the rich and the powerful; the courts never do this for others; if everyone is equal before law then why this favouritism for these high officials?” was one of the questions asked in speeches during the rally at Vanapa Hall here.
This was the third rally spearheaded by the RTI organisations, People’s Right to Information and Development Society of Mizoram and Society for Social Action, against graft in the state.
According to the activists, this is an open and shut case, going by the revelations in the documents handed out by the PWD in reply to RTI applications.
In fact, the public prosecutor had read out a statement by accountant Lalthanpuia in the special court that revealed several startling facts, including the confession that the latter had been instrumental in forging eight different letters of credit in a desperate bid by the officials to cover their tracks.
The activists also urged the government to dismiss the two accused from service, as, according to their medical certificates, they were too ill to continue in service.
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