Customs official, wife convicted in disproportionate assets case

A special CBI court here onThursday convicted a superintendent of Customs department andhis wife in a 2011 disproportionate assets case.

Benudhar Samal was found guilty under the Preventionof Corruption Act and sentenced to three years in jail, whilehis wife, Jyotshnamayee, booked for abetment, got two years'imprisonment.

Judge V V Khatare, however, suspended their sentencesso that they can file appeals.

The anti-corruption bureau of the Cenral Bureau ofInvestigation had registered a case against the couple in2011.

It was alleged that Benudhar, working asSuperintendent of Customs at the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trustin Navi Mumbai between January 2004 to May 2010, acquiredassets of Rs 87,82 ,231 which were disproportionate to hislegitimate income.

The court in its ruling on Thursday also said thatthese assets will be forfeited to the state government.