Jodhpur, Oct. 10 -- The special court (CBI Cases) in Jodhpur on Thursday convicted former Income Tax officer Shailendra Bhandari in a case of amassing disproportionate assets, sentencing him to four years of simple imprisonment and a fine of Rs.27 lakh. Presiding officer Bhupendra Sanadhya, while delivering the verdict, said that the accused abused his position as a public servant and, through corrupt and illegal means, committed a serious criminal offence by acquiring assets 26.46% disproportionate to his income. "In order to curb corruption, a lenient approach towards the accused does not seem appropriate." In 2015, a CBI Jodhpur team arrested Income Tax Department ITO Shailendra Bhandari, chief income tax commissioner PK Sharma, and a middleman jeweller while accepting a bribe of Rs.15 lakh. Furthermore, an investigation against both officers revealed evidence of disproportionate assets. Based on this, a case of disproportionate assets was filed against Bhandari on March 4, 2016. In its decision, the court said that after subtracting the accused's known income of Rs.1,00,57,206.50 from his expenses of Rs.57,09,091 during the assessment period, his savings amounted to Rs.43,48,115.50. However, his total assets during the assessment period were Rs.70,09,043. Even after deducting his savings, the accused was found to possess disproportionate assets of Rs.26,60,927.50, which shows 26.46% more income than his declared legal income. During the trial, the accused failed to present a satisfactory account of these disproportionate assets, proving that he had acquired assets beyond his legal sources of income....