The Special Court handed a sentence of six years to a Lumbini Development Trust employee for corruption on Thursday.

A bench of Special Court Chairperson Tek Narayan Kunwar and members Tej Narayan Singh Rai and Ritendra Thapa convicted the trust’s engineer Saroj Bhattarai for illegally accumulating personal wealth on June 6. On Thursday, he was handed the jail term and a fine of Rs8 million in the case by the court.

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 accused him of taking 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.

Bhattarai used the amount to buy two different pieces of land, spanning over 2 ropani 9 aana, and 2 aana and 1 paisa, 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.