Rajasthan govt joint secretary arrested for taking bribe: Official

A joint secretary in the state's mines department was arrested here on Wednesday for allegedly taking bribe of Rs 4 lakh, an official said.

The officer had allegedly demanded the bribe from the complainant in exchange of cancelling a penalty imposed on him by the department, an Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) official said.

Two alleged middlemen were also arrested.

Vikas Danghi, one of the middlemen, had taken Rs 7 lakh from the complainant, the official said.

Danghi kept Rs 2 lakh for himself and gave the rest to the other middleman, Om Singh, who in turn took Rs 1 lakh and went to the joint secretary, BD Kumawat, to give him his share of Rs 4 lakh, the official said.

"Kumawat was caught while accepting the bribe amount from the middleman," he said.

The money has been recovered and the bureau is taking further action in the matter, the official said.