Guwahati, Sep 8: The Assam vigilance and anti-corruption directorate laid a trap and arrested a lat mandal of Patharighat revenue circle in Darrang district in a bribery case on Wednesday.
Sources said that a complaint was received at the directorate that Hari Das Singha, the lat mandal, had demanded a sum of Rs 20,000 for mutation of land measuring half bigha in the name of the complainant. Later, the bribe money was reduced to Rs 18,000 which was further reduced to Rs 17,000.
Unwilling to pay the bribe, the complainant approached the directorate for taking necessary legal action against the public servant.
Accordingly, a trap was laid by a team from the directorate at the office of the circle officer, Patharighat revenue circle, Darrang, and Singha was caught red handed in the office, soon after he accepted a bribe of Rs 10,000 from the complainant.
The bribe money was recovered from the possession of Singha in the presence of independent witnesses.
A case has been registered in anti-corruption bureau (ACB) police station under Section 7(a) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (as amended in 2018) against the accused public servant. Necessary legal follow up action is being taken.
The Himanta Biswa Sarma-led government has so far acted tough on corrupt government officials as part of a sustained zero-tolerance drive against corruption across government departments.
Sources inform that over 40 government officers and employees, across various government departments, have been caught red-handed while accepting bribes and arrested since May 10, 2021.