The CBI Court at Rouse Avenue District Court (RADC), New Delhi sentenced two individuals — Rajender Sharma and Satyapal Singh — in a 2003 case involving fraudulent duty drawback claims amounting to over Rs. 14 lakh. Both were also directed to pay a total compensation of ₹9 lakh to the Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC), New Delhi.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had registered the case on December 30, 2003, against Rajender Sharma, proprietor of M/s Siddharthi, and unidentified officials of AEPC, Ministry of Textiles, for allegedly manipulating documents to falsely claim duty drawbacks for non-existent exports of garments. The conspiracy was carried out in collaboration with co-accused Satyapal Singh.
The investigation revealed that Sharma had illegally transferred his export license to another person and fabricated export documents to fraudulently claim duty drawback benefits totaling Rs. 14,01,828. Both Sharma and Singh were chargesheeted by the CBI on June 29, 2005, and subsequently admitted guilt during trial proceedings under plea bargaining.
Following their admission, the court convicted Rajender Sharma and sentenced him to the duration of custody already undergone — 75 days — along with a fine of ₹6,000. Co-accused Satyapal Singh was sentenced to imprisonment till the rising of the court, also with a fine of Rs. 6,000.
In addition to the penal sentences, the court ordered both convicts to jointly pay ₹9 lakh in compensation to AEPC, to be disbursed in three equal installments of ₹3 lakh each within six months from the date of judgment.
