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Graft case: Vigilance recovers ₹9 lakh cash from GMADA official’s Mohali house
Devinder Kumar Sharma was arrested from the GMADA office in Phase 8, Mohali, on Tuesday for demanding and accepting a bribe of ₹1.5 lakh from a booth owner to issue him the no-dues certificate
A day after the Punjab Vigilance Bureau arrested Devinder Kumar Sharma, a section officer with the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA), for accepting a bribe of ₹1.5 lakh, its sleuths recovered ₹9 lakh in cash from his house in Sector 67, Mohali.
Sharma was arrested from the GMADA office in Phase 8 on Tuesday for demanding and accepting a bribe of ₹1.5 lakh from a booth owner to issue him the no-dues certificate (NDC).
On Wednesday, he was produced before a Mohali court that sent him to four-day police remand.
Three-storey house, multiple bank accounts in his name: Probe
Through its probe, the bureau has discovered that Sharma has around 10 accounts in various banks under his name and also owns a three-storey house in Sector 67, besides a plot.
“After questioning, we recovered ₹9 lakh from his house in Sector 67. Also, he deposited ₹2.25 lakh and ₹2.75 lakh cash in two different bank accounts two days before his arrest. We are investigating the source of the money and verifying all his property details,” said DSP Ajay Kumar of the Vigilance Bureau’s flying squad.
Sharma was arrested following a complaint by Nirmal Singh, a resident of Phase 10, who owns a booth in Phase 11.
The complainant had alleged that he had cleared all outstanding payments for his booth allotted in 2016, yet 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.
Demanding payment of the remaining ₹1 lakh soon, Sharma started threatening Singh with allotment cancellation, prompting him to approach the bureau with a complaint.
After being caught red-handed while accepting the bribe amount at GMADA office on Tuesday, Sharma was booked under Section 7 (public servant taking gratification other than legal remuneration in respect of an official act) of the Prevention of Corruption Act. If proven, the charge entails imprisonment up to five years with fine.
