Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) arrested a Junior Engineer (Electrical) of the Jammu Power Distribution Corporation Limited in a corruption case on Saturday.
A statement of ACB issued here said that the bureau received a complaint from the complainant regarding the demand of bribe by SushmaParihar, JE (Electrical) posted at NaiBasti Fish Market, Jammu.
It said that the complainant alleged that he had applied for a new electrical connection (Commercial, 3 Phase) for his premises situated at Rani TalabDigiana, Jammu.
The statement said that after completing all the formalities, the file was marked by the AEE (Electrical) Gangyal on 23 March 2021 to JE (Electrical) Parihar whose office is opposite NaiBasti Fish Market Jammu.
It said that Parihar called the complainant the next day to her office and categorically told him that she would not sanction his connection until and unless he paid her Rs 20,000 as bribe.
The ACB statement said that she also said that she would keep the Kilowatt connected load on the lower side by way of which he would have to pay less amount top the government exchequer.
It said that despite repeated requests, the JE was adamant on having the bribe amount and kept the file with her granting him three to four days time to arrange the money.
The statement said that the complainant did not want to give bribe to Parihar and approached the ACB to take necessary action under the law.
It said that on the receipt of this complaint, a pre-trap verification was conducted and as per the complaint and report of verifying officer, prime facie, offence under section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act, 2018 was found made out against the Parihar and a case under FIR No 04/2021 was registered at Police Station, ACB Central, Jammu.
The ACB statement said that a trap team was constituted and independent witnesses including a female officer and magistrate were associated with the team.
It said that the trap team laid a successful trap and caught the accused red handed demanding and accepting the bribe from the complainant.
The statement said that the amount of bribe to the tune of Rs 20,000 was also recovered on the spot and searches were conducted in the house of the accused.