An employee of the Lumbini Development Trust was convicted in a corruption case by the Special Court on Thursday.

A bench of Special Court Chairperson Tek Narayan Kunwar, comprising members Tej Narayan Singh Rai and Ritendra Thapa, found the trust’s engineer Saroj Bhattarai guilty of illegally accumulating personal wealth.

The Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority had filed a case at the Special Court accusing Bhattarai of corruption, on April 7.

Among other charges, the corruption watchdog alleged that the accused had taken a bribe of Rs8 million from businessman Safik Ahmed, who is the proprietor of one of the construction companies contracted with the trust, through a third person.

Ahmed was awarded a contract worth Rs1.22 billion during Bhattarai’s tenure as the trust’s head of the planning section in 2018/19.

The accused allegedly used the amount to buy two different pieces of land, spanning over 2 ropani 9ana and 2ana and 1paisa respectively, in Gundu of Bhaktapur in his mother Janak Nandini Bhattarai’s name.

The mother, who was also a defendant in the case, was acquitted of the charges.

Accused Bhattarai will be handed his punishment in the next hearing scheduled for June 13.