Ludhiana: Aide of clerk caught taking ₹20,000 as bribe: VB

Disclosing this, an official spokesperson of the VB said the arrest was made after a resident of Basant Nagar filed a complaint on the chief minister’s Anti-Corruption Action Line portal

The Punjab Vigilance Bureau (VB) apprehended an aide of a clerk posted in the tehsil (east) office at Mini Secretariat for accepting a bribe of ₹20,000 on Thursday.

The accused after his arrest by vigilance officials in Ludhiana on Thursday. (HT Photo)

The arrested accused has been identified as Rajat Sharma of Basant Nagar, Partap Singh Wala, while clerk Amaninder Singh is yet to be arrested. The Vigilance Bureau has registered an FIR against both of them.

Disclosing this here today, an official spokesperson of the VB said the arrest was made after a resident of Basant Nagar filed a complaint on the chief minister’s Anti-Corruption Action Line portal. “The complainant alleged that accused Amaninder Singh, clerk, demanded a bribe of ₹50,000 for providing information regarding registration of a plot in the Ludhiana Municipal Corporation area,” the spokesperson stated.

During verification of this complaint, the VB team laid a trap during which Rajat Sharma, said to be aide of the clerk, was caught red-handed while receiving ₹20,000 from the complainant in the presence of two official witnesses. Upon being questioned by the VB, the accused revealed that he was unofficially working with the said clerk in the office and he had asked him to collect the bribe money.

The spokesperson informed that a case under Prevention of Corruption Act has been registered against both the accused at the VB police station, Ludhiana range. Further investigation into this case was underway and the main accused would be arrested soon, he said.