PSPCL junior engineer caught accepting bribe in Ludhiana

The PSPCL junior engineer had charged the complainant excess money for setting up a 5KW power connection; vigilance team caught him red-handed accepting the bribe

A vigilance team caught a junior engineer (JE) of Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) red-handed while accepting a bribe ₹20,000.

The PSPCL junior engineer has been booked under Section 7 of Prevention of Corruption Act for accepting bribe, in Ludhiana. (HT File/Representational image)

The accused has been identified as Malkit Singh. He was deployed at the PSPCL office in Janta Nagar.

Jaswinder Singh, DSP, vigilance bureau, Ludhiana range, said the action was taken on the complaint of Gurcharan Singh of Ram Nagar in Dholewal.

“The complainant wanted a 5KW connection for his work. The JE told him that he would have to pay ₹33,000 and explained that ₹17,500 will be deposited as fee while remaining will be spent on preparing the file. When the complainant requested him to reduce the amount, the JE reduced ₹1,000 and asked Gurcharan to pay ₹32,000,” said the DSP.

He added that the complainant gave ₹12,000 to the JE in advance following which the latter issued a security receipt of ₹4,500 while the remaining ₹7,500 was unaccounted for.

On January 17, the JE called up Gurcharan and asked him to pay the remaining amount of ₹20,000. Gurcharan inquired from one of acquaintances and found that the JE was charging him an excess amount for the work. Following this, he approached the vigilance bureau and a trap was laid.