Jammu- A revenue officer was caught red-handed by the Anti-corruption Bureau (ACB) while taking a bribe of Rs 1.5 lakh from a tout for issuing documents of a plot of land here, officials said on Friday.
Ashok Sharma was arrested on Thursday night and Rs 9 lakh were also recovered from the tout, Raman Gupta’s possession, they said.
The ACB received a complaint against Sharma and his associates for demanding a bribe of Rs 25 lakh for issuing fard (document of lands), they said.
In his complaint, the complainant said he had applied for issuance of fard in respect of a land, situated at Mawa Karora area of Akhnoor, in the name of his wife before then Patwari (revenue official) Ravinder Bhagat.
The complainant alleged that after filing the application Sharma and Bhagat approached the complainant through their tout Raman Gupta and asked for a bribe of Rs 30 lakh for the issuance of the fard.
The duo contacted the complainant and negotiated the amount to Rs 25 lakh, the officials said.
A digital copy of the land document was given to the complainant by Gupta and Sharma, who was transferred out of the place, retained the original copy and demanded Rs 25 lakh to handover the original documents to the complainant.
On this, the complainant approached ACB for appropriate action against the officials.
The ACB registered a case and laid a trap during which Sharma, presently posted at Gharota, was caught while accepting the bribe, they said.
Searches were also conducted in the residents of all the accused persons and Rs 9 lakh was seized from Gupta’s possession, they said.
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