Lokayukta Police unearth Rs 3 cr DA from top MPRDC official

The Lokayukta Police have unearthed disproportionate assets worth Rs three crore allegedly owned by the Madhya Pradesh Road Development Corporation (MPRDC) General Manager Ashok Chawla after he was arrested last night for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs two lakh.
Chawla was apprehended when he was taking the money from a representative of a private construction company in exchange of issuing a completion certificate (CC) and clearing bills of a road construction work under the Prime Minister's Rural Roads Scheme (Gram Sadak Yojana) in Ujjain district, a senior official said today.
The Lokayukta Police also arrested two more officials of different departments last night on the complaint of the same firm for allegedly accepting bribe. However, the complaints against the duo pertain to separate cases.

"The Lokayukta Police have discovered the unaccounted assets worth Rs three crore from Chawla, which included a two-storey building, two plots in Indore, gold and fixed deposits, besides Rs 90 lakh investments in various schemes," a Deputy Superintendent of the Lokayukta Police told PTI.
He said the investigation was underway and the cost of Chawla's disproportionate assets may go up.
Meanwhile, the two officials are identified as Pradeep Latte, the Scientific Officer working at Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology (RRCAT) under the Department of Atomic Energy, and Arun Tripathi, a Sub-Divisional Officer (SDO) of the Water Resource Department, posted in neighbouring Dhar district.

While Latte was arrested here while allegedly accepting Rs 20,000, Tripathi for allegedly accepting Rs 50,000 in Dhar.
According to the DSP, Latte looks after construction related activities at the RRCAT.
In the complaints filed before the Lokayukta Police, the private company has alleged that some state government officials are demanding bribe for returning the security money deposited by the firm while submitting tenders for construction works as well as for clearing bills, he added.