6 officials in Punjab arrested for accepting bribe

Chandigarh: Six officials of Punjab State Power Corporation Limited and a civic body were arrested today for allegedly accepting bribes, state vigilance bureau said.

Gurjinder Singh, Sub Divisional Officer of Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) and Balvir Chand a Junior Engineer, both posted at Rihana Jattan in Kapurthala district were nabbed on the complaint of Mandeep Singh a local, a official spokesperson of Punjab Vigilance Bureau said.

The complainant alleged that the SDO demanded a bribe of Rs 10,000 for installing new transformer to restore power supply in a ‘Dera’ adjoining the village but later agreed to accept Rs 9,000.

A trap was laid by a team of the vigilance bureau and the duo were caught while accepting the bribe, the spokesperson said.

In another incident, an engineer and two Junior Engineers and a clerk of Giddarbaha Municipal Council were arrested for allegedly accepting Rs 60,000 as bribe.

Ranjit Singh, a contractor, had complained that he had been giving 13 per cent commission to the Municipal Engineer/ SDO Parlad, Joint Engineers Navdeep Kumar and Gaurav Dhir and clerk Karan Kumar passing the bills for road laying works worth Rs 30 lakh he had completed.

The total value of the road laying contract is Rs 90 lakh and to pass bills for the rest of the work the officials were demanding 15 per cent commission, the contractor alleged.

Following his complaint, a trap was laid and their office was raided in which bribe money of Rs 60,000 were recovered and all the accused arrested, the spokesperson said.