Assistant Town Planner and architect arrested over bribery case in Patiala
The Punjab Vigilance Bureau has arrested Assistant Town Planner (ATP) Jaspal Singh of the Municipal Corporation and architect Anish Khanna from Patiala for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 50,000. The arrests were made following a complaint lodged by Ashok Kumar, a resident of Patran in district Patiala.
A spokesperson for the State Vigilance Bureau revealed that the complainant had approached the Bureau, alleging that ATP Jaspal Singh had demanded a bribe of Rs 1 lakh through architect Anish Khanna in exchange for approving the map of his hospital building. Kumar stated that Jaspal Singh had already received Rs 50,000 through Khanna and was demanding the remaining amount of the bribe.
After conducting a preliminary investigation into the matter, a team from the Vigilance Bureau set up a trap. The team apprehended architect Anish Khanna while he was accepting the second instalment of Rs 50,000 from the complainant, with two official witnesses present. Subsequently, ATP Jaspal Singh was also arrested.
A case under the Prevention of Corruption Act has been registered against both accused at the Vigilance Bureau Police Station in the Patiala Range. Both individuals will be presented in court tomorrow, and further investigation is ongoing.
Following the arrests, work at the Municipal Corporation was suspended as multiple civic employee unions, including the Sweepers Union, Sewerage Workers Union, Municipal Employees Union, A-Tank Employees Union, and others, staged protests against the police action.
They claimed that ATP Jaspal Singh had been falsely implicated.
Meanwhile, many residents who had visited the Municipal Corporation office in Patitala to address civic issues were forced to return without any resolution.
