News Analysis India

Tag: corruption

  • Suspended Rajasthan constable sentenced to three years in jail for taking bribe

    By PTI
    KOTA: A suspended Rajasthan police constable was on Tuesday sentenced to three years in jail for taking a bribe of Rs 4,000 eleven years ago.

    The Kota anti-corruption court also imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on suspended constable Lal Singh after convicting him in the case.

    The constable was arrested in 2010 on a complaint of a Dhaturia village resident under Anta police station in Baran, Anti-Corruption Bureau’s Assistant Prosecution Director Ashok Joshi said.

    The constable had demanded the bribe from the complainant threatening him that unless he gives him the money, he would be implicated in a false case.

  • Ex-HC judge to probe allegations against me: Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh

    By PTI
    NAGPUR: Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh on Sunday said a retired judge of high court will conduct a probe into the allegations of corruption levelled against him by former Mumbai police chief Param Bir Singh.

    The truth will come out after a probe into the matter, Deshmukh told reporters at the Nagpur airport.

    On March 20, Singh in a letter to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray created a flutter in Maharashtra’s political circles by claiming that Deshmukh wanted police officers to collect Rs 100 crore monthly from bars and hotels.

    Deshmukh had then trashed the allegations against him.

    Under fire over handling of the bomb scare outside industrialist Mukesh Ambani’s house in Mumbai, the state government on March 17 transferred Singh from the post of city police commissioner to the low-key home guard department.

    Deshmukh on Sunday said he had asked Chief Minister Thackeray to initiate an inquiry into the allegations made against him by Param Bir Singh.

    “The chief minister and the state government have decided that a retired judge of high court will conduct a probe into the allegations against me. Whatever is the truth will come out,” he said.

    Deshmukh was replying to a query on Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut’s claim that he was made the state home minister accidentally.

    In his weekly column Rokhthok in the party mouthpiece ‘Saamana’, Raut on Sunday called Deshmukh an accidental home minister, claiming he got the post after senior NCP leaders like Jayant Patil and Dilip Walse-Patil refused the responsibility.

    Raut also said the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress government in Maharashtra did not have damage control machinery as was seen after Param Bir Singh claimed that Deshmukh asked cops to collect Rs 100 crore a month.

  • Maharashtra: Power company employee caught taking bribe in Aurangabad 

    By PTI
    AURANGABAD: An employee of a power distribution company was caught while allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 2,000 for replacing a faulty electricity meter in Maharashtra’s Aurangabad city, an official from the Anti- Corruption Bureau (ACB) said on Wednesday.

    Parmeshwar Chavan (36), a contractual employee of the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL), was caught while accepting the bribe at the complainant’s home in Padegaon area, the official said.

    Chavan had demanded Rs 2,500 for changing a faulty electricity meter and after negotiations had settled for Rs 2,000, he said.

    An offence will be registered against the accused at Chavni police station, the official said.

  • Vasai-Virar civic clerk demands bribe for tax assessment, held

    By PTI
    PALGHAR: A clerk with the Vasai Virar Municipal Corporation was arrested by the Thane unit of the Anti Corruption Bureau for allegedly demanding and accepting a bribe, an official said on Saturday.

    Nandkumar Koli (43) demanded Rs 5,000 each for seven rooms from the owner who wanted the former to carry out a civic tax assessment, ACB Inspector Santosh Shevale said.

    “The owner of the rooms approached ACB.

    We laid a trap on Friday and caught Koli red-handed while accepting an initial amount of Rs 15,000,” he said.

  • Police head constable arrested for accepting bribe in Rajasthan

    By PTI
    BIKANER: A police head constable was arrested for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 5,000 from a man for not arresting him in a case lodged against him in Bikaner district of Rajasthan on Saturday, the ACB said.

    The accused head constable Ramdev, posted with Panchu police station of Bikaner, had demanded the bribe from one Rewat Ram for not arresting him and to settle a case against him, it said.

    Rewat Ram gave a complaint to the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) and after verification, the accused head constable was caught red-handed while accepting the bribe on Saturday outside the police station, Additional Superintendent of Police Rajnish Poonia said.

    He was arrested under the Prevention of Corruption Act, he said.

  • Revenue officer, aide held for taking Rs 25 lakh bribe in Gujarat

    By PTI
    AHMEDABAD: A revenue officer and his associate have been arrested in Gujarat’s Ahmedabad district for allegedly taking a bribe of Rs 25 lakh from a land owner, the state Anti-Corruption Bureau said on Wednesday.

    Based on a complaint, the ACB on Tuesday caught the duo red-handed at the mamlatdar (revenue) office in Dholka town here, it said.

    A man, who owns a piece of land near Badarkha village in Dholka taluka, recently submitted an application at the revenue office for making some changes in records pertaining to his land.

    Apart from revision in the land area, the man also applied to restore his status as a farmer, the ACB said.

    The revenue officer allegedly demanded Rs 25 lakh to give his approval for the same, the release said.

    The land owner then complained to the ACB, which laid a trap and caught the accused while accepting the money.

    The ACB recovered Rs 20 lakh from the revenue officer and Rs 5 lakh from his associate, the release said.

  • Rajasthan government sets up special cell to nab corrupt officials

    Express News Service
    JAIPUR: In a bid to tighten the noose around corrupt officials, the Rajasthan Government has decided to a create a special cell in the personnel department that will closely monitor suspected corrupt and irresponsible officials in the state. This comes a day after two senior Rajasthan Administrative Service (RAS) officials were trapped by Anti-corruption Bureau (ACB) while they were taking huge bribes in return of promised favours.

    In recent months, the ACB has been on a massive campaign against corrupt officials in the state at the behest of Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot. The new cell has also been created on his initiative and the information was conveyed by the CM himself while addressing the collectors of the state via a video conference. CM Gehlot stated that a cell within the department of personnel will be formed “to look into complaints of indiscipline and corruption against government officials and anyone found guilty will be punished severely.”

    It may be noted that on Wednesday, the Rajasthan Anti-Corruption Bureau had trapped two senior RAS officials taking bribes of 10 and 5 lakhs each in a single day. The two officials were SDM of Bandikui Pinky Meena and Dausa SDM Pushkar Mittal. According to the ACB, both the SDMs were arrested for demanding bribes from a construction contractor under the Bharat Mata project of laying down the Delhi Mumbai Express Highway. The ACB conducted the action on the basis of a complaint which they received against the two officials who were caught red-handed on Wednesday.

    Highly placed sources in the ACB confirmed that several police, administrative and revenue officials in Dausa are under the radar of the bureau. They say that there is strong evidence to suggest that some officials are taking monthly bribes of 2 lakhs each from construction companies under various developmental projects. The ACB is likely to take strong action against some of these officials in the near future.

    Meanwhile, the two senior RAS officials trapped by the ACB taking bribes of 5 lakhs each on Wednesday, were presented before a local court in Jaipur today. The two officials have now been sent to judicial custody for 15 days.

    In addition, a middleman named Neeraj Meena has also been arrested in this case by the ACB and sent to police custody for two days. The middleman had allegedly demanded a bribe of 38 lakhs on behalf of the Dausa SP. The ACB is conducting more detailed investigations into this shocking case.