Ranchi: The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) caught a Land Reforms employee and a middleman red-handed on Monday while they accepted a ₹5 lakh bribe in Jharkhand’s Saraikela district.
The Sting Operation
The ACB identified the suspects as Pritam Acharya, an employee at the Deputy Commissioner Land Reforms (DCLR) office, and a local broker. According to officials, the pair demanded ₹40 lakh from complainant Gurucharan Singh Sardar to settle a land compensation case and submit a favorable report.
After receiving the complaint, the ACB laid a trap:
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The Exchange: The complainant met the suspects with ₹5 lakh, the first installment of the bribe.
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The Catch: As the suspects took the money, monitoring ACB agents swooped in and arrested them.
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Next Steps: The team moved the suspects to Jamshedpur for interrogation.
A Surge in Anti-Corruption Crackdowns
This arrest marks the eighth bribery-related detention in Jharkhand this month. The ACB and CBI have ramped up operations across the state:
| Date | Location | Suspect | Bribe Amount |
| March 23 | Saraikela | DCLR Employee & Middleman | ₹5,00,000 |
| March 19 | Sahibganj | Block Supply Officer | ₹50,000 |
| March 17 | Bokaro | Railway Junior Engineer | ₹15,000 |
| March 13 | Deoghar | Two Land Acquisition Employees | Commission (Land Project) |
| March 12 | Koderma/Gumla | Sub-Inspector & Panchayat Sec. | Undisclosed |
Ongoing Investigations
The ACB is currently probing the suspects’ disproportionate assets and investigating potential links to larger corruption networks. Bureau officials urge the public to refuse bribe demands and report any solicitation of illegal payments to the authorities immediately.
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