BDPO caught taking Rs 25K bribe

Our Correspondent

Mandi Ahmedgarh, January 30

The Vigilance Bureau (VB) has arrested an official of the Rural Development and Panchayat Department for allegedly taking a bribe of Rs 25,000.

The suspect has been identified as Ashok Kumar, Block Development and Panchayat Officer (BDPO), Sudhar. He was arrested following a complaint given by Lakhvir Singh, sarpanch of Boparai village of the Sudhar Block in Ludhiana district.

The SSP (Vigilance), Ludhiana, Ravinder Pal Singh Sandhu, said Vigilance sleuths, led by DSP Nirmal Singh, had laid a trap against the official on the complaint of Lakhvir, sarpanch of Boparai village, and arrested him red-handed while accepting Rs 25,000 as a part of the settled amount for clearing some papers in connection with development works at the village.

Sandhu said the complainant had approached the Vigilance Bureau and alleged that the BDPO had been demanding a bribe of Rs 50,000 for issuing utilisation certificate and payment of grants for executing development works in the gram panchayat. The complainant alleged that he did not want to give bribe to the official but on his repeated requests, the deal was struck at Rs 25,000.

Finding substance in the complaint, a VB team from the Ludhiana range, led by DSP Nirmal Singh, laid a trap on Monday and arrested the suspect from his office while he was accepting a bribe of Rs 25,000. The money was also recovered from him in the presence of two official witnesses, Sandhu added.