Sting snares corrupt officials

Shiv Kumar Tiwari, a florist at Connaught Place, was harassed regularly and his goods were confiscated because he refused to pay a monthly protection money, reports Nivedita Khandekar.

Shiv Kumar Tiwari, a florist at Connaught Place, was harassed regularly and his goods were confiscated because he refused to pay a monthly protection money.

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Fed up with the demands made by the high and mighty, Tiwari approached the Anti-Corruption Branch of Delhi government. He little step went on to to expose a major nexus between officials of the NDMC, police department and the labour department in this. In an almost month-long sting operation, Tiwari helped the Anti-Corruption Branch officers to arrest the corrupt from these departments.

“Aam aadmi ki takleef ko door karna jaroori hai (It is necessary to redress common man’s problem,” said Tiwari to Hindustan Times.

The anti-corruption branch officials used sting operations for many other cases as well. They even depended on electronic gadgets to gather evidence against the corrupt.

Two interesting cases were the arrests of personnel from the Crime Branch of Delhi Police and the Social Welfare Department of the Delhi Government.

The anti-corruption sleuths had on October 17 arrested three Crime Branch officers and a senior advocate for demanding money from a father and son in connection with a murder case.

The complainant had claimed that the three officers and the advocate had been demanding money to clear his father’s name from the case after falsely implicating him in the case.

The Social Welfare Department case was related to purchase of various items for shelter homes/hostels/other institutions run by the department.

A source in the Anti-Corruption Branch said, “The evidence (audio/video) is captured without the knowledge of the culprit. They help in nabbing the person concerned and also in exposing the entire nexus, including the top-level officials involved.”

RTI activist Arvind Kejariwal said, “The Anti-Corruption Branch has become quite active in the last one year and there has been many a high profile arrests. (But) it is important that it is made independent of the government.”