DOGRA HERALD BUREAU
Srinagar, Oct 17
J&K Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) on Thursday arrested red-handed a senior official of the Public Works Department (PWD) while demanding and accepting a bribe of Rs 25000 from a contactor in Sopore township of Baramulla district, officials said.
ACB in a statement said that it received a complaint from a contractor against Assistant Executive Engineer(AEE) Public Works Department Roads and Buildings Division Sopore Mubarak Ahmad Ganie alleging that Ganie is demanding a commission of 2 percent as a bribe from him for processing his current bill as well as on previous bills cleared by him.
The contractor in his complaint said he was executing a work titled Construction of Lecture Block G+2 of GDC Sopore under the supervision of PWD R&B division Sopore for which the bill was prepared and checked by the concerned Junior Engineer.
But when he approached AEE Ganie to process his bill for payments, he demanded his commission as a bribe on his current bill as well as on previous bills cleared by him.
The complainant further alleged that AEE is refusing to process his bill further unless his commission is paid to him.
As the complainant was not interested in paying a bribe to AEE, he approached ACB for legal action against the AEE.
On receipt of the complaint, the allegations were verified by the ACB.
A case under section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (as amended in 2018) was registered against Ganie, and investigations were put into motion.
During the investigation, a trap team headed by a senior rank officer was constituted at Police Station ACB Baramulla who laid a trap, and accused AEE was caught red-handed while demanding and accepting a bribe of Rs. 25000 from the contractor.
After completing all legal formalities the accused AEE was arrested on the spot.
The bribe money was recovered from his possession in the presence of independent witnesses, besides this during his search some cash was also recovered from his possession which is subject matter of further investigations.
Subsequently, the residential house as well as the official accommodation of the accused was also searched following due process laid down under law, during which incriminating documents were recovered and seized in the presence of a Magistrate and independent witnesses.
