Jammu, Feb 1: The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) on Sunday arrested a junior engineer for allegedly demanding a bribe from a contractor for preparation of a bill related to works executed under the rural development department (RDD) in Jammu and Kashmir’s Reasi district, officials said.
A spokesperson said a case under the Prevention of Corruption Act was registered at the ACB police station in Udhampur against Rahul Gandotra, a junior engineer posted as technical assistant in the block development office in Gulabgarh-Mahore belt in Reasi district.
The accused had allegedly demanded a bribe from the complainant contractor for preparing the bill related to RDD works executed by him. Unwilling to pay the bribe, he approached the ACB seeking legal action against the accused, the official said.
“On receipt of the complaint, a discreet verification was conducted, which corroborated the demand of bribe by the public servant. Accordingly, a case was registered and investigation was taken up,” he said.
During investigation, a team headed by a deputy superintendent of police was constituted, which laid a trap and caught the accused red-handed while demanding and accepting Rs 8,000 from the complainant in the presence of independent witnesses, he said, adding that the accused was arrested from the spot and the bribe amount was also recovered from his possession.
The ACB also conducted a search at the residence of the accused in Rehari area of Jammu in the presence of a magistrate.
The official said three separate FIRs under the Prevention of Corruption Act had been earlier registered against the accused at ACB police station, Udhampur, and are under investigation.
Further investigation is underway in the present case too, the spokesperson added.
