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MCG official, clerk held for accepting ₹50K as bribe for fixing tax error
They said that 44-year-old Sameer Srivastava was a tax officer, Zone-II and his 40-year-old clerk Deepak Kumar was a contractual employee hired via the Haryana Kaushal Rozgar Nigam Limited
Gurugram: A zonal tax officer from the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) and his clerk were arrested from their office in Civil Lines on Wednesday for allegedly accepting ₹50,000 as bribe from a person to fix his property tax bill, Haryana anti-corruption bureau officials said.
They said that 44-year-old Sameer Srivastava was a tax officer, Zone-II and his 40-year-old clerk Deepak Kumar was a contractual employee hired via the Haryana Kaushal Rozgar Nigam Limited.
Officials aware of the matter said that a raiding team headed by DSP Meena Kumari, ACB Faridabad wing, first nabbed Kumar immediately after he accepted the bribe from the complainant and then Srivastava as the clerk told the cops that he had taken the bribe on the ZTO’s directions.
An ACB official said that the complainant Krishan Sachdeva, a Sector-7 resident, was running from pillar to post to get his tax bill rectified but Srivastava did not bother to resolve the issue for the last four months.
“Sachdeva had received an inflated tax bill while his actual bill should have been much less. He kept persuading the officer to get his work done but nothing happened. The complainant was asked to pay ₹1 lakh as bribe,” he said.
The officer said that one week ago, he approached the ACB and submitted a complaint against the ZTO and the clerk following which an internal inquiry was launched.
“During the inquiry, it was prima facie established that a bribe of ₹1 lakh was demanded from Sachdeva and finally an FIR was registered against the duo under Section 7, 13(1) and 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act with ACB, Gurugram, on Wednesday,” he said.
The DSP, who led the team, said that the complainant withdrew ₹50,000 and paid it to the clerk on Wednesday. “He had promised to pay the pending amount on Thursday as ₹50,000 was the maximum withdrawal limit in a day from an ATM. Soon after the money exchanged hands, we arrested the clerk and later Srivastava,” she said.
A senior MCG official said they were not aware of Sachdeva’s grievance. “The ZTO was suspended and the clerk’s contract will be terminated. We will cooperate with ACB in the investigation and the complainant’s issue will also be resolved. Such corrupt practices will not be tolerated,” he added.
