A senior accounts officer with Markfed was nabbed by a team of the SAS Nagar vigilance bureau while accepting a bribe of Rs 15,000 in Ludhiana on Monday.
The accused identified as Yograj Talwar is a senior accounts officer with Markfed, Ludhiana, and native of Goraya in Kapurthala.
Assistant inspector general (AIG), vigilance bureau, SAS Nagar, Ranbir Singh Khatra said they had received a complaint from Jagdeep Singh, a resident of Dhilwan village in Ludhiana, wherein he had accused the official of demanding bribe for releasing his pending payment. A vigilance team led by inspector Sanjeev Bhatt laid a trap and caught Talwar red-handed while accepting Rs 15,000 from the complainant at the Markfed office in Ludhiana.
The complainant, who worked as a contractor with Markfed, said he had signed a contract of providing the service of labour and transportation to Markfed for 2014-15. He added that for providing the services, Markfed had to pay him Rs 14 lakh. It had paid Rs 11 lakh to him and for releasing the payment cheque of Rs 3 lakh, the accused demanded Rs 25,000 as bribe. However, the deal was settled at Rs 15,000. He said he had received the cheque of Rs 11 lakh in April.
The complainant claimed that while settling the deal, the accused had explained that the money was to be distributed among several officers but did not disclose any name.
{{/usCountry}}The complainant claimed that while settling the deal, the accused had explained that the money was to be distributed among several officers but did not disclose any name.
{{/usCountry}}“The accused explained to me that they always charge 2% of the total bill from the contractors for releasing their payments,” said Jagdeep.
A case has been registered against Yograj Talwar under relevant sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act at the vigilance police station in SAS Nagar.