Guwahati, Aug 25: The Assam vigilance and anti-corruption directorate, in continuation of its relentless drive against corruption, arrested a senior assistant at the office of the district transport officer (DTO) in Dhemaji on Thursday.
The arrest followed a complaint received at the directorate alleging that Gobin Bordoloi, senior assistant at the office of DTO, Dhemaji had demanded a bribe of Rs 12,000 from the complainant for renewal of trade certificate of the complainant’s e-rickshaw shop.
Unwilling to pay the bribe, the complainant approached the directorate for taking necessary legal action against the public servant.
“Accordingly, a trap was laid today in the office of DTO, Dhemaji by the vigilance team following which the public servant was caught red handed at 2.55 pm soon after he accepted the demanded bribe of Rs 12,000 from the complainant,” an official statement said on Thursday.
The bribe money was seized from the possession of the transport department employee in the presence of independent witnesses.
A case (number 32/2022) under Section 7(a) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (as amended in 2018) has been registered at the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) police station against Bordoloi. Necessary legal follow up action is underway.
This is the third such arrest made by teams from the vigilance directorate in three days.
On Wednesday, an extra writer at the office of the sub registrar, Biswanath was caught red-handed by a team from the directorate while accepting a bribe for processing registration of land.
A day before, a head teacher of a school in Morigaon district was caught red handed, accepting a bribe.
Sources inform that about 41 government officers and employees, across various government departments, have been caught red-handed while accepting bribes and arrested since May 10, 2021.
Reportedly, charge-sheets have been filed against two-thirds of the arrested persons.