Judicial Magistrate from Gujarat sent to prison for corruption

In 2002 Premji Gohil was a serving JMFC in Pardi court in Valsad district of south Gujarat where he was accused of corrupt practices by local lawyers.

Ahmedabad: A Judicial Magistrate First Class
(JMFC) has been sentenced to two years in prison by a local
court here on charges of corruption.

Additional sessions judge VK Vyas while awarding
two-year sentence to JMFC Premji Gohil, acquitted his wife
Shobhana and brother-in-law Pradeep Mackwana who were accused
of abetting him, for lack of evidence.

According to case details, in 2002 Gohil was a serving
JMFC in Pardi court in Valsad district of south Gujarat
where he was accused of corrupt practices by local lawyers.

Upon receiving complaints, the Gujarat High Court
vigilance department initiated an inquiry against him which
found that Gohil was in possession of huge property, which he
claimed was received by way of gift and even showed various
gift agreements.

However, the vigilance department was not convinced with
the documents and lodged a criminal complaint against Gohil,
his wife and brother-in-law in 2005.

During the trial, public prosecutor, GH Majmudar argued
that Gohil was a judicial officer and well versed with law,
yet he chose to disobey law of the land and indulged in
corrupt practices. He also argued that the gift agreements put
forth by Gohil were forged.

After hearing the arguments and examining 31 witnesses
and perusal of 42 documents, the court held Gohil guilty of
corruption and sentenced him to two years` imprisonment.

During the course of trial, two of the lawyers who had
complained against Gohil withdrew their statements. They
were declared hostile by the court and their case was referred
to the Bar Council of Gujarat for appropriate action.

PTI

Zee News App: Read latest news of India and world, bollywood news, business updates, cricket scores, etc. Download the Zee news app now to keep up with daily breaking news and live news event coverage.