Guwahati, Feb 11: A team from the directorate of vigilance and anti-corruption laid a trap and apprehended a senior assistant of the Assam agriculture department while accepting a bribe of Rs 15,000 from the complainant.
Official sources informed that a complaint alleging demand of bribe was received following which the vigilance team laid a trap at Athgaon here on Thursday morning to catch Papori Mehta, a senior assistant of the agriculture department, posted at the Assam Secretariat, red-handed while accepting the bribe.
The accused government employee had demanded a bribe of Rs 1, 00,000 from the complainant for processing her proposal for appointment on compassionate grounds in the agriculture department.
The complainant had applied for appointment on compassionate grounds, after her husband, who was a government driver in the agriculture department, had passed away.
“The accused public servant had agreed to receive the first instalment, and accordingly, she had asked the complainant to come to the Athgaon area of the city on Thursday for handing over the demanded bribe money,” an official statement said.
The tainted bribe money was recovered from her possession in the presence of independent witnesses.
A case was registered in the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) police station vide ACB PS case (number 04/2022) under Section 7(a) of the Prevention of Corruption Act against the accused woman.
“The apprehended accused person was brought to the ACB police station for further action in accordance with law. Investigation of the case is under progress,” the statement said.
It may be mentioned that on January 4, the directorate of vigilance and anti-corruption had caught Sima Devi, a senior administrative assistant of the Welfare of Bodoland department, red handed while accepting Rs 4000 as bribe.
During search at her work place, an additional amount of Rs 99,000 was recovered by the team from her personal handbag.
