Saraikela, March 23 : The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) on Monday arrested an employee of the Deputy Commissioner, Land Reforms’ (DCLR) office and a middleman in Saraikela district while allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 5 lakh, officials said.
The arrested accused have been identified as Pritam Acharya, an employee posted at the DCLR office, and a broker Vinay Tiwary.
According to officials, the duo had demanded a total bribe of Rs 40 lakh from the complainant, Gurucharan Singh Sardar, in exchange for settling a land compensation case and submitting a favourable report.
Acting on the complaint, the ACB laid a trap. As per the plan, the complainant reached the designated location on Monday with Rs 5 lakh as the first instalment of the agreed amount. The moment the money was handed over, the ACB team, which had been monitoring the whole thing, swooped in and caught both accused red-handed.
The operation created a stir within the Saraikela Collectorate and the Land Reforms office. Following the arrest, the ACB team took both accused to Jamshedpur, where they are currently being interrogated.
With this action, the number of arrests in bribery-related cases in Jharkhand so far this month has risen to eight.
