The Punjab Vigilance Bureau has apprehended Nikhil Garg, Assistant Registrar, Cooperative Societies, Jagraon, Ludhiana, who also holds additional charge of the Doraha office, red-handed while allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 1 lakh at his residence in Patiala.
Disclosing this on Friday, an official spokesperson of the Vigilance Bureau said the accused was arrested based on a complaint lodged by the manager of a cooperative society.
The spokesperson said the complainant alleged that the accused had demanded a bribe of Rs 5 lakh in exchange for recommending his application for transfer to Doraha.
After receiving the bribe amount, the accused allegedly made backdated entries and signatures in the proceedings book of the Cooperative Society, Doraha, on Friday regarding the complainant’s transfer.
The accused had also allegedly demanded the bribe in the name of senior officers and informed a senior officer of the Cooperative Society after accepting the money.
The complainant had recorded the entire conversation related to the demand for the bribe. Unwilling to pay the illegal gratification, he approached the Vigilance Bureau’s Economic Offences Wing (EOW) in Ludhiana.
Acting on the complaint, the Vigilance Bureau team laid a trap and arrested the accused Assistant Registrar red-handed while he was accepting Rs 1 lakh from the complainant in the presence of two official witnesses.
The tainted currency notes were recovered from his possession.
In this regard, a case under the Prevention of Corruption Act has been registered against the accused at the Vigilance Bureau EOW police station, Ludhiana. Further investigation is under way.
