VB arrests patwari ‘taking bribe’

Patwari Akshdeep Singh, posted in the Doulatpur revenue halka of Pathankot district, reportedly took ₹4,000 as bribe from a villager for land mutation.

The Punjab Vigilance Bureau (VB) on Wednesday apprehended a patwari, Akshdeep Singh, posted in the Doulatpur revenue halka of Pathankot district, for reportedly demanding and accepting a bribe of ₹4,000.

The accused will be produced in a court on Thursday.

An official spokesperson of the VB said the patwari was arrested on a complaint lodged by Jagjeet Singh, a resident of Dhakki village in Pathankot. He said the complainant had approached the VB, complaining that the accused had demanded ₹4,000 for mutation of his ancestral land. After a preliminary inquiry, a VB team laid a trap and the accused was caught red-handed while allegedly accepting ₹4,000 from the complainant in the presence of two witnesses.

The spokesperson informed that a case under the Prevention of Corruption Act has been registered against the said accused at the VB police station in Amritsar range. The accused would be produced in the competent court on Thursday and further investigation into this case was under progress, he added.