Chief Fire Officer caught taking Rs50,000 bribe

Tribune News Service

Mohali, August 27

The Punjab Vigilance Bureau today caught Mohali Chief Fire Officer Sham Lal Kamboj while taking a bribe of Rs 50,000 from a Delhi resident.

According to Vigilance officials, Kamboj had demanded Rs 1 lakh from Deepak Sharma, a resident of West Sarangpur, Delhi, for issuing a no-objection certificate to his firm, VK Fire Safety and System.

The Vigilance officials said Deepak Sharma worked as an engineer in the firm, which had installed the fire safety system in flats of the Youth Welfare Housing Society in Sector 79.

The firm needed to get an NOC from the fire officer to get its payment.

“When Deepak approached the officer around 15 days ago and applied for the document in question, Kamboj asked him to pay a bribe of Rs 1 lakh,” said the Vigilance officials. Deepak filed a complaint following which a trap was laid.

The bribe was to be paid in two instalments, said the officials, adding that Deepak was called to pay the first instalment today.

A trap was laid by Inspector Ashok Kumar and the Fire Safety Officer was caught taking the bribe of Rs 50,000 from the complainant.