Panchayat secretary, tout caught taking bribe

A gram panchayat secretary (gram sevak) and a tout were caught red-handed while accepting a bribe from a local contractor by an anti- corruption bureau sleuth, the police said today.
Sitapura gram panchayat secretary Nand Lal Rawal, who also held the additional charge of Niwariya gram panchayat in Tonk district, had sought Rs 20,900 from contractor Ashok Sharma through a tout to issue him a cheque of Rs 1,90,000 for construction work in Niwariya, the DSP of the anti- corruption bureau (Bundi), Tarun Kant Somani, said.
Sharma, however, contacted ACB (Bundi) for help and following the verification of the complaint, a trap was laid for Rawal yesterday, Somani said.

When Rawal and the tout, Morepal Gujar, called Sharma to a roadside hotel on the Kota-Jaipur National Highway last night, a plain-clothed ACB sleuth was keeping a tab on them from nearby, the DCP said.
The duo was arrested as soon as they were seen accepting the bribe, he said, adding that they will be produced before ACB court today.