GMADA section officer arrested for taking ₹1.5-lakh bribe

The accused, Devinder Kumar Sharma, a section officer with GMADA, had sought the bribe from a resident of Phase 10, Mohali, to issue him the no-dues certificate for his booth

The Punjab Vigilance Bureau on Tuesday arrested a section officer of the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) for taking a ₹1.5 lakh bribe from a booth owner to issue him the no-dues certificate (NDC).

Devinder Kumar Sharma, the accused, is a section officer with GMADA, Mohali. (HT Photo)

The accused, Devinder Kumar Sharma, was arrested following a complaint by Nirmal Singh, a resident of Phase 10, who owns a booth in Phase 11.

DSP Ajay Kumar of Vigilance Bureau’s flying squad said even though Singh had cleared all outstanding payments for his booth allotted in 2016, Sharma demanded a bribe of ₹5 lakh from him to issue the NDC. The deal was eventually settled for ₹1.5 lakh, of which Singh had already paid ₹50,000.

Subsequently, Sharma started threatening Singh of allotment cancellation if he didn’t pay the remaining ₹1 lakh soon, following which he approached the bureau.

The bureau’s flying squad laid a trap on Tuesday afternoon and caught the officer red-handed while accepting the ₹1 lakh bribe at the GMADA office in Phase 8. The raiding team, including inspectors Sukhjinder Singh, Dharampal Singh and Palvinder Singh, also recovered the already paid ₹50,000.