Guwahati, May 10: A team from the Assam directorate of vigilance and anti-corruption arrested an assistant engineer at the office of the executive engineer at Goreswar in Baksa district in a bribery case on Wednesday.
The arrest comes in the wake of a complaint received at the directorate, alleging that Mridul Duari, the assistant engineer at the office of the executive engineer, Suklai Serfang in Goreswar division (irrigation), demanded Rs 30,000 as bribe from the complainant in the name of issuing work order to the complainant who was awarded with a contract through tender process in the irrigation division.
Later, the bribe amount was reduced to Rs 25,000 by the accused public servant.
Unwilling to pay the bribe, the complainant approached the directorate for taking necessary legal action against the public servant.
“Accordingly, a trap was laid at the office of the executive engineer, Suklai Serfang in Goreswar, following which Duari was caught red handed at 3:20 pm, accepting Rs 20,000 as part of the demanded bribe from the friend of the complainant who had approached the public servant with the bribe amount on behalf of the complainant,” an official statement issued here said.
The money was recovered from the possession of the accused public servant and seized accordingly in the presence of independent witnesses.
“During the search of the body of the apprehended public servant, an additional amount of Rs 10,000 was recovered and seized in the presence of independent witnesses. Finding sufficient evidence against the accused public servant, he was arrested by the vigilance team,” the statement said.
In this connection, a case was registered at the anti-corruption bureau (ACB) police station (vide ACB P.S. case number 33/2023) under Section 7(a) of Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (as amended in 2018) against the apprehended public servant. “Necessary legal follow up action is underway,” it said.
