Bhandari: On trial

Gangtok, June 5: Opposition member and former chief minister Nar Bahadur Bhandari will face trial for his involvement in the rural development department (RDD) water supply scam.

The stage for the trial was set when the district and sessions court-East, in Gangtok, framed charges on Bhandari and two other contractors yesterday.

The court has been designated as the special court to try cases under the Prevention of Corruption Act (PC Act). The trial comes 20 years after the case was first handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation.

The B.B. Gooroong government had, in 1984, handed over the case to the CBI. On May 18, charges were framed against former chief secretary P.K. Pradhan and nine contractors for their involvement in the case.

Two other contractors against whom charges were framed yesterday are Bhim B. Gurung and Srinivas Agarwal.

The framing of charges against Bhandari had been pending as he had sought 15 days’ leave on “medical grounds”.

His counsel Bhaskar Raj Pradhan had placed his application for medical leave, which the court accepted.

Bhandari and Pradhan, the two main accused in the case, have been charged with committing “criminal misconduct” and entering into a “criminal conspiracy” with 13 contractors by awarding contracts for water supply schemes by flouting norms. The duo has been charged under Sections 120(b) read with Sections 5(i)d of the IPC.

Pradhan, who was then RDD secretary, and Bhandari, were accused of ignoring the recommendations of the tender committee causing loss to the state exchequer.

The case was first handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation in 1984 but reached the courts only in 1996.

Earlier, a revision appeal on the CBI case filed by Bhandari and Pradhan in the high court was turned down, clearing the way for charges to be framed against them.

Although charges could not be framed against Bhandari on May 18, since he applied for two weeks leave on medical grounds, a week later Bhandari presided over the 19th foundation day of his party, Sikkim Sangram Parishad.