Patwari lands in ACB net

The Hitavada State Bureau

RAIPUR/SURAJPUR :

A 29-year-old patwari in Surajpur district of Chhattisgarh was arrested by a team of Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) on Saturday while accepting a bribe of Rs 4,000. “Acting on a complaint, a team of ACB’s Ambikapur unit today caught a patwari red-handed while accepting a bribe worth Rs 4,000. The accused patwari was produced in a Surajpur Court from where he was sent to judicial custody,” said Superintendent of Police (ACB) Pankaj Chandra.

Shedding more details about the crime, SP Chandra informed that the accused patwari identified as Anup Sinha, posted at village Pathakpur in the district, has demanded bribe of Rs 5,000 from a complainant for mentioning agricultural land’s acreage in the registration form required to be filled for selling paddy in the society. However, the accused later expressed his consent to mention acreage in the complainant’s form by taking Rs 4,000 bribe. A complaint in this regard was lodged by Premsai, a resident of village Pathakpur, on October 11 following which it was verified.

“During verification, the complaint of Premsai was found to be genuine and thereafter, a trap was laid to catch the accused officer red-handed. The accused patwari was caught by the sleuths of ACB while accepting bribe from the complainant at village Latori,” added SP Chandra. An offence was registered against the patwari under relevant Section of Prevention of Corruption Act-1988 and further investigation is underway, informed police.