ACB catches junior engineer while taking bribe; arrests 3

The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) today caught a junior engineer of the Rajasthan Watershed department red-handed while she was accepting a bribe of Rs 25,000 from a contractor, an official said.
Along with the engineer, the secretary of the department and a gram panchyat sarpanch were allegedly involved in demanding a bribe of Rs 45,000 from the contractor, ACB Additional Superintendent of Police Thakur Chandrasheel said.
The trio was arrested during a raid carried out at the Watershed department office in the city's Zila Parishad by an ACB sleuth, Chandrasheel said.
Engineer Priti Sain, secretary Suresh Mali and Mawasa sarpanch Suresh had demanded a bribe of Rs 45,000 from contractor Farukh for sanctioning the pending bill of Rs 2.40 lakh for the construction of anicuts under a water shade programme in Mawasa gram panchayat.

While Sain was arrested when she was accepting the bribe, Mali was arrested with Rs 18,000, which was to be shared with Suresh, he said.
Suresh was later arrested from his village. He was one of the signatories for sanctioning the pending bill of the contractor.

The raid was conducted by the ACB following a complaint by Farukh.
"The first instalment of the bribe amount was to be paid today. A trap was laid to nab the accused," the ASP said.
The three accused will be produced before the ACB court tomorrow, he added.