Vigilance team arrests public prosecutor, lawyers free him

Tribune News Service

Dehradun, December 6

The vigilance cell of the Uttarakhand Police registered a case against public prosecutor Ashok Ubhan for allegedly taking bribe here today. He was arrested red-handed with new currency notes of Rs 5 lakh, but a group of lawyers went berserk over his arrest and freed him from the clutches of the sleuths.

According to information, a team of the vigilance cell arrested the public prosecutor following a complaint by Ved Prakash alleging that the former had demanded a bribe of Rs 7 lakh for filing an appeal against his jail punishment.

The complainant alleged that the deal was struck for Rs 5 lakh after rounds of talks with the public prosecutor, as he had expressed his inability to pay Rs 7 lakh.

The team of vigilance officials raided the court complex and arrested the public prosecutor red-handed with Rs 5 lakh taken as bribe from his chamber. Meanwhile, a group of lawyers created a ruckus outside the public prosecutor’s chamber after he was arrested. They alleged that the public prosecutor was being wrongly charged with taking bribe and set him free from the vigilance team.

Ashok Kumar, Director, Vigilance, said they had sufficient proof to prove that the public prosecutor had demanded bribe from the complainant and accepted Rs 5 lakh as bribe. He said action would be taken against lawyers for setting the public prosecutor free from the vigilance team. Bar Association president Manmohan Kandwal condemned the incident. He said a meeting would be held with lawyers to decide about future course of action.