Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) on Saturday arrested a ward officer of Srinagar Municipal Corporation while accepting Rs 20,000 as “first installment” out the total Rs 50,000 demanded by him, the anti-graft body said.
“ACB received a written complaint alleging therein that Ward Officer, Srinagar Municipal Corporation(SMC), Hawal, Srinagar is demanding Rs 50,000 as bribe for allowing construction in favour of the complainant,” the ACB said in a statement, adding, “The complainant requested to the ward officer and pleaded for justice, who however remained adamant on his demand of bribe.”
He had asked the complainant to pay a bribe of Rs 20,000 as first installment, the ACB said. However, before paying the bribe amount to the accused person, the complainant approached Anti-Corruption Bureau for taking legal action against the accused public servant under law, the statement reads.
On receipt of the complaint a Case FIR No. 33/2022 U/S 7 PC Act 1988 was registered with this Bureau and investigation taken up, it said.
“During the course of investigation a trap team constituted. The team laid a successful trap and caught the accused public servant Mohd Maqbool Bhat S/o Ali Mohd Bhat R/o HMT Srinagar, Ward Officer, Hawal SMC Srinagar red handed while demanding and accepting the bribe amount of Rs 20,000 from the complainant as first instalment of Rs 50,000,” ACB said, adding, “He was arrested on the spot by the ACB team. The bribe money was also recovered from his possession in presence of independent witnesses. Subsequently, searches were carried out at different locations associated with the accused.”
The ACB said further investigation into the case was going on.
