Chargesheet filed against IAS officer Sanjay Popli, aide in graft case

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Mohali, August 19

The Vigilance Bureau (VB) has filed a chargesheet in a court against IAS officer Sanjay Popli and Sandeep Vats, assistant secretary of the Water Supply Department, in a graft case.

The chargesheet against the duo has been filed under Sections 7 and 7 (a) of the Prevention of Corruption Act. The VB has filed a 20-page chargesheet and named 55 witnesses in the case.

Popli and Vats were arrested in the graft case on June 20 for allegedly demanding bribe in exchange for clearing tenders to lay sewer pipes in Nawanshahr.

Sanjay Kumar of Karnal, a government contractor with a firm, Dikhadala Cooperative Society Limited, in his complaint, said Popli, during his posting as the Chief Executive Officer of the Punjab Water Supply and Sewerage Board, in connivance with his assistant secretary, Vats, had allegedly demanded bribe to clear a tender for Rs 7.30 crore. On January 12, Vats demanded Rs 7 lakh (1 per cent of Rs 7-crore project) for tender allotment on behalf of Popli. “Scared, Kumar handed over Rs 3.5 lakh to Vats in a car at Sector 20,” the VB had said. Vats intimated Popli and kept Rs 50,000 from the total. Later, Kumar refused to pay the remaining Rs 3.5 lakh demanded by Vats. He made a video recording of the conversation and submitted it to the VB.