Govt sees red on info leaks

Sushil Manav

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 3

The state government has taken a serious view of leak of information about some recent raids by the State Vigilance Bureau (SVB) to nab corrupt officials, leading to failure of operations.

Navraj Sandhu, Additional Chief Secretary, Vigilance Department, has written to heads of all government departments, Commissioners of various divisions, Deputy Commissioners (DCs), Registrar of the Punjab and Haryana High Court and all District and Sessions Judges, asking them to bring this to the notice of officers working under their administrative control.

“It has come to the notice of the government that in some raids, information was leaked, which compromised success of the operation. The government attaches utmost importance to successful investigation and prosecution of cases of corruption,” Sandhu said in her letter.

The communication further said all government servants, including gazetted officers, should cooperate and ensure that no information was leaked regarding raids. She warned that any violation of directions would be viewed very seriously by the government.

Under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1998, the SVB carried out raids to nab red-handed officials demanding bribe for any official work.

Sources said under the procedure followed by the SVB, it informs the DC of the district after receiving a complaint against any government official regarding demand of bribe.

The DC appointed a duty magistrate, who could be a Tehsildar, Block Development and Panchayat Officer or any other official, to accompany the SVB team.

After this, the complainant was given currency notes laced with phenolphthalein equivalent to the bribe money and accompanied by a shadow witness. He approached the official concerned to deliver the amount.

The moment the official received the bribe, the shadow witness signalled the SVB team, which immediately nabbed the erring official in presence of the duty magistrate. The official’s hands were washed and water turning red because of phenolphthalein was preserved as evidence.

Sources said the leak of information has been reported at the level of staff members of DCs or duty magistrates. In some cases, leak at the end of SVB officials could not be ruled out, claimed the sources.