Nineteen years after the Central Bureau of Investigation booked three persons, including a Haryana cadre IAS officer, in a corruption case, a CBI court on Saturday acquitted them.

The CBI had booked former IAS officer A K Sinha, the then regional manager of Punjab National Bank R L Vaid and former manager of the bank Y K Singla under various sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act. The case was registered on November 11, 1990.

It was alleged that Sinha, who served as secretary in the Haryana Town Planning Department in 1981, had taken undue advantages from the bank in form of a housing loan sanctioned to his wife.

According to the prosecution, Rama Sinha was sanctioned a loan of Rs 2.75 lakh by the bank on the basis of a single offer letter. And the building constructed from the loan amount was given to the bank on rent.

The prosecution had further said that Sinha had promised the bank a plot in Sector 6, Panchkula, at a monthly rent of Rs 4,985. The application was processed by Singla and Vaid in violation of rules, the CBI had said.

“The prosecution was not able to prove the charges and link it with the conspiracy as no irregularity was found in the case as alleged,” defence counsel B K Sharma said.