Economic Offences Wing (EOW), Sagar, has arrested Joint Commissioner of Co-operatives, Divendra Dev Pandey while accepting a bribe of Rs 50,000, on Wednesday. The case was initiated based on a written complaint submitted by Dingvijay Singh alias Ghanshyam Rajput (Lodhi), a resident of Panwari, Tehsil Buxwaha, District Chhatarpur (M.P.). The complainant had applied for recruitment to the post of Salesman at the Cooperative Society of Panwari, Chhatarpur and alleged that Divendra Dev Pandey, Joint Commissioner of Cooperatives, Sagar Division, demanded a bribe of Rs 1 lakh in exchange for approving his appointment. Following the preliminary inquiry, the allegations were found to be valid.

 

During discussions, the accused agreed to reduce the bribe amount to Rs 50,000, citing the complainant’s inability to arrange the full sum. On July 23, 2025, the EOW Sagar team executed the trap and caught Joint Commissioner Divendra Dev Pandey red-handed while accepting Rs 50,000 from the complainant. In the presence of independent witnesses, a chemical test confirmed the presence of the bribe amount, as the accused’s hands turned pink after being washed in the solution.

 

The complainant’s appointment file, which had already been approved by the cooperative society, was pending for final authorisation in the office of the accused. EOW has registered a case against Divendra Dev Pandey under Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption Act while further investigation is underway. The trap operation was carried out under the leadership of DSP (EOW) Uma Naval. The team included Inspectors Prashant Mishra, Adesh Jain, SIs Anjila Tiwari, Sonal Pandey and constables including Rohini Soni, Atul Panthi, Adil Ali, Brijendra Singh Rajput, Ramjeevan Yadav, Ashish Mishra, Indrakant Mishra and Akarsh Dixit.