PATNA : A special vigilance court on Friday sentenced a former assistant engineer to four-year imprisonment in connection with an embezzlement of Rs 20,000 during the repair of a canal in West Champaran district 38 years ago. Headed by Satya Prakash Shukla, the court also imposed a penalty of about 10,000, failing which the convict has to serve an additional three-month jail term. Patna resident Surendra Nath Verma, now 76, was taken into custody immediately and sent it judicial custody in the Beur central jail near Patna. Verma is the lone survivor among the four named accused in the case lodged with the special vigilance police station, Patna.The defalcation in repair work on Triveni canal under Ramnagar division in West Champaran district took place in 1986-87. A contract of about 3 crore for the repair work was awarded to a contractor Sammi Khan. However, gross irregularities were reported in the earth-filling and other related work. A senior IPS officer DP Ojha, then posted as deputy inspector general at the police headquarters, was assigned the probe into defalcation of public money.
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