DDPO among three arrested for Graft in Punjab

The Punjab Vigilance Bureau (PVB) today arrested a district development and panchayat officer (DDPO) along with his superintendent and senior assistant for allegedly taking a bribe of Rs 1 lakh.

Officer Jagtar Singh, Rakesh Kumar and Gurdarshan Singh were nabbed by vigilance sleuths for accepting the bribe, a spokesperson of the bureau said.

The arrests were made following a complaint by Mandeep Singh, who was a sarpanch of the Bheni Bagha Gram Panchayat in Mansa district from the 2008-12.

He was served a notice to deposit Rs 45 lakh by Jagtar Singh, then BDPO, Mansa, for committing irregularities in development works.

His agricultural land of 13 acres was also attached on the recommendation of Jagtar Singh for recovering the amount.

However, the Panchayats and Rural Development department on a review application from the former sarpanch ordered recheck of the previous development works through executive engineer Panchayti Raj, the spokesperson said.

The executive engineer has reported irregularities to the tune of only Rs 3.94 lakhs