AAP govt's new anti-corruption branch makes first arrests

Three people, including a government official, were on Saturday taken into custody by the anti-corruption branch for allegedly taking bribe.

Three people, including a government official, were on Saturday taken into custody by the anti-corruption branch for allegedly taking bribe.

Saturday’s arrests were the first to be made related based on any complaint received on the newly launched anti-graft helpline in Delhi.

According to an anti-corruption branch official, a complaint had been lodged by a caller on Delhi government’s 1031 helpline on Thursday. The caller claimed that bribe was being taken at the entry gate of Azadpur Mandi for allowing trucks having valid papers to enter.

“The caller was then asked to conduct a sting operation after which a team of 15-18 officials of the branch reached the spot around 1.30am on Saturday when close to 20,000 truck queue up to get entry,” an official said.

The anti-corruption team then conducted a raid and arrested three people, which includes a government employee.

“A security in-charge and two contractual staff were arrested who used to take hefty amount from transporters to allow them early entry,” the official said.

The agency has also seized a large number of currency notes from the possession of the accused.

According to the government, within 100 hours of its launch, the helpline had received and answered a total of 32,489 telephone calls. Of them, only 70 were found to be serious and were forwarded to the anti-graft branch for investigation.

Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal had launched the revamped helpline at a public gathering at Talkatora stadium on April 5.

The helpline functions on a 24x7 basis and will. The calls received so far are now being analysed to segregate frivolous and real complaints. The government said efforts are being made to ensure that no call made on 1031 number remains unanswered.