Raj mining dept engineer held for taking bribe

A Rajasthan mining department engineer and a suspected middleman were on Wednesday arrested for allegedly taking bribe from a man to make changes in his mining lease, an official said.

While the middleman, Lakshman Dhakad, was caught taking the bribe money in Rajsamand district, engineer Gopal Bachch was arrested from Bijolia in Bhilwara, an anti-corruption bureau official said.

The bureau had received a complaint from Rajendra Yadav alleging that Bachch demanded around Rs 25 lakh from him to change his mining lease from Feldspar to Granite, ACB Director General Alok Tripathi said.

Yadav also told ACB that Bachch had asked him to hand over Rs 10 lakh to Dhakad as the first installment, he said.

For the verification of the complaint, Yadav went to Dhakad and offered him Rs 4 lakh, but a team of ACB caught the middleman accepting the bribe on behalf of Bachch, the official said.

Later, ACB nabbed Bachch from his residence in Bhilwara, he said.

His house in Begun town is being searched and further investigation is underway, the official added.