Excise official held for ₹10,000 bribery, another at large

Excise inspector Jatinderpal Singh will be produced in a court on Saturday. Clerk Sanjeev Malhotra is at large and efforts are being made to arrest him, the Vigilance Burau has said.

The Punjab Vigilance Bureau (VB) on Friday arrested an excise and taxation official, inspector Jatinderpal Singh, from his Kapurthala office in connection with a ₹10,000 bribery case. A clerk, Sanjeev Malhotra, is at large and efforts are being made to arrest him, the VB stated. A case has been registered against both and Jatinderpal would be produced in a court on Saturday, a VB spokesperson said.

The accused were demanding ₹20,000 more from the complainant, according to the Vigilance Bureau.

The spokesperson said the action was taken on a complaint lodged by Neeraj Sharma, a resident of Mohalla Kiampura, Kapurthala city, on the chief minister’s anti-corruption action line. The complainant, who runs an electronic shop in Kiampura, mentioned that he had sold a cooler in March this year and both officials had intervened to settle a dispute with his customer. He alleged that both demanded ₹45,000 to settle ‘irregularities’ in the sale bill.

He further mentioned that clerk Sanjiv Malhotra later demanded ₹1 lakh but the deal was struck at ₹30,000. He allegedly took ₹10,000 as the first instalment and had been demanding ₹20,000 more. The complainant recorded the conversation and submitted it to the VB as an evidence.