Junior Engineer arrested for demanding Rs 1.25L bribe

A team of the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) in Haryana’s Sirsa district arrested a Junior Engineer (JE) from the Panchayati Raj Department on Friday night for allegedly demanding a bribe. The JE, Lavish Kumar, had asked for Rs 1,25,000 from the Sarpanch of Dhani Khuhwali village in exchange for clearing the pipeline bill for a drainage project. The ACB has filed a case against Lavish Kumar, and he will be presented in court soon.

According to the ACB, the project in Dhani Khuhwali involved laying a pipeline to drain out dirty water. Sarpanch Omprakash reported that for the past five days, JE Lavish Kumar had been demanding Rs 1,25,000 to approve the pending pipeline bill. After much pressure, the amount was negotiated down to Rs 1,10,000, and the Sarpanch agreed to pay it. Following this, Omprakash informed the ACB about the bribe demand.

After receiving the complaint, ACB’s Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Amit Beniwal and his team conducted an operation and arrested Lavish Kumar on Friday evening from the New Housing Board Colony area. During the arrest, pending bills for the pipeline work were found in his possession.

Lavish will be presented in court, where the police will request for his remand for further questioning. The ACB has urged the public to report any instances of bribery by government officials or employees, assuring that immediate action will be taken.