ACB books two Labour Dept employees

The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) has registered an FIR under the Prevention of Corruption Act against two employees of the Labour Department in Gurugram. The accused, Labour Inspector Manoj Kumar and Clerk Ankit Kumar, allegedly demanded a bribe of Rs 5,000 and accepted Rs 3,500 in cash in exchange for approving a business registration application. The case is currently under investigation.

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According to ACB officials, the complaint was filed by an individual who had applied five times on the Labour Department portal for the registration of a commercial shop. Each application was rejected without valid justification. The complainant, who submitted his complaint in December 2023, stated that despite providing all necessary documents and paying the full government fee, his applications were repeatedly denied. He faced baseless objections, and no time was given to address them.

On September 21, 2023, the complainant visited the Labour Department office in Gurugram to inquire about the repeated rejections. Labour Inspector Manoj Kumar claimed that the government fee had been underpaid. After the complainant presented all relevant documents, Kumar instructed him to reapply and meet him personally.

The complainant stated, "I reapplied on the portal that same day, but Inspector Manoj Kumar and Clerk Ankit Kumar demanded a bribe of Rs 5,000 to approve the application and took Rs 3,500 in cash on September 22, 2023. I recorded the entire conversation on my mobile and submitted the recording to the authorities."

Following the complaint, investigating officers collected voice samples from the accused and sent them to a forensic lab in Madhuban, where the voices matched.

In April 2025, the ACB submitted its report to the Additional Director General of Police, recommending the filing of an FIR. Consequently, an FIR has been registered against Labour Inspector Manoj Kumar and Clerk Ankit Kumar, who are posted at the Assistant Labour Commissioner's Office, Circle-16 in Gurugram. A probe is ongoing, and appropriate action will be taken as per the law, according to an ACB official.