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Rajasthan ACB arrests 2 revenue board officials, middleman, more arrests likely
ACB superintendent, Ajmer, said the team acted on intelligence that both the corrupt officials in the revenue board were based in Ajmer.
The anti-corruption bureau (ACB) arrested two Rajasthan Administrative Services (RAS) officers serving as revenue board members and recovered ₹80 lakh in cash during Saturday night raids on their houses, said officials. This is the seventh case of corruption among senior RAS officers to have come to light in the past four-months
“About ₹80 lakh cash has been found during searches at the house of Meharda and Sharma, located in Vaishali Nagar, Bapu Nagar, Jaipur. Shashi Kant, a broker in the case, has also been arrested under the relevant Sections of Prevention of Corruption Act,” said ACB director general BL Soni.
He identified the arrested officers as BL Meharda from the 1996 batch and Sunil Sharma from the 1994 batch. HT has learnt that some other officials could also be involved in the bribery case. The Board of Revenue is the chief controlling revenue authority and the highest Revenue Court of Appeal, Revision and Reference in Rajasthan. It has wide powers and control over all subordinate courts.
Sameer Singh, ACB superintendent, Ajmer, said the team acted on intelligence that both the officials in the revenue board, based in Ajmer, took bribes to settle revenue-related matters via agent Shashi Kant.
“The Intelligence Wing of the ACB was getting complaints for a long time after which the searches were carried out. Their offices based in Ajmer have also been sealed,” Singh said.
Senior journalist Tribhuvan said, “The ‘desire system’ created by the political leaders has added wings to the corruption in the bureaucracy. The corruption which was crawling is now running because of the too much involvement of the ‘desire’ system. If ACB is empowered with more powers including technical, the agency can work even better.” The desire system in Rajasthan refers to the culture of recommending postings of officials in specific areas and associated favouritism.
