Gram panchayat official held for accepting Rs 1,000 bribe

The State Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (SV & ACB), Mandi, today arrested a Technical Assistant posted at the Kasan gram panchayat under Development Block Sadar for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 1,000.

According to SV & ACB Mandi SP Kulbhushan Verma, a complaint was received from Narayan Singh, BDC Member of Sai Kasan, alleging that Sanjay Sharma, Technical Assistant, demanded Rs 1,000 for preparing estimates related to grants issued by the BDC member for the panchayat.

“During verification, the allegations were found to be genuine. A trap was subsequently laid as per standard procedure in the presence of independent witnesses, and the accused was caught red-handed while accepting the bribe amount. The tainted money was recovered and seized on the spot,” SP Verma said.

The complainant also disclosed that the accused had earlier accepted ₹500 from him four days ago for similar work. Following the successful trap operation, Sanjay Sharma was taken into custody.

A case under Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption Act has been registered at the SV & ACB Police Station, Mandi. Inspector Roop Singh has been assigned to lead the investigation.tri