Patna, June 10: The number of trap cases registered by the Patna unit of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has gone up in the past decade but the rate of conviction is abysmal.

Sources said the Patna unit registered 96 trap cases between 2000 and 2010. The agency has registered the highest number of cases in 2009 — 17. In 2007, 14 cases were registered, while the number stood at 13 each in 2003 and 2008. But the agency has so far been able to get only one accused convicted in a graft case.

Officers attributed the poor conviction rate to lack of adequate number of courts.

Those arrested on corruption charges include senior officers of the department of post, provident fund, nationalised banks and Food Corporation of India (FCI). The officials were booked under different sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.

The investigating agency, however, claimed that it met with success in cases of forgery and other offences in which several accused were pronounced guilty and awarded sentences by the court.

The latest trap case that created ripples in the administrative circles was registered against Ajay Kumar Sinha, then deputy manager (small and medium enterprises cash and credit centre) of the State Bank of India, Patna main branch, in January this year.

Sinha was caught taking Rs 30,000 bribe from a complainant in the office. The officer had allegedly demanded Rs 1.2 lakh as bribe from the complainant, a resident of Kankerbagh, for providing him loan of Rs 25 lakh for setting up a rice rolling unit.

Recently, two other officers of the nationalised banks also fell into the trap laid by the CBI sleuths. Earlier, M.L. Nagora, the regional manager of the Provident Fund office, was arrested from Patna. A.K. Sinha, the general manager of the Food Corporation of India, and Narendra Prasad Singh, were trapped and arrested by the CBI sleuths from Muzaffarpur.

“The number of trap cases has increased in the recent past. But the number of courts to conduct trials has remained the same, just as it was a decade ago,” said a CBI officer. He said the conviction rate in Bihar was “abysmal” because of lack of sufficient courts.

He said the proposal to set up three exclusive CBI courts for speedy trial of the trap cases in Patna was still hanging. “The proposal is yet to see the light of the day almost a year after the CBI directorate felt the need of setting up more courts across the country,” he said.

He further said: “This is a national phenomenon. The conviction rate in the cases investigated by the CBI in the country dipped to 64.74 per cent in 2009 from 66.75 per cent in 2008.” He said altogether 859 cases were pending for disposal in different courts across the country.

While 668 cases were pending for one year, 162 cases were pending for the past couple of years. Fourteen cases were pending for two-three years whereas six cases were pending for three-five years, the officer pointed out.