Rs 9-L cash seized from house of officer caught taking bribe

Cash worth Rs 9.27 lakh was seized from the house of an executive engineer of the Public Works Department (PWD) here, after he was caught on Wednesday accepting a bribe of Rs three lakh, a Lokayukta police official said on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the PWD executive engineer, Dharmendra Jaiswal, was admitted to a hospital after he complained of uneasiness when his house was being searched by the Lokayukta police.

Talking to PTI, Lokayukta Superintendent of Police (SP) Savyasachi Saraf said on Thursday that a probe was underway to confirm the source of Rs 9.27 lakh cash that was recovered from Jaiswal's residence after he was caught taking Rs 3 lakh bribe.

Information about his movable and immovable assets is also being collected, he said.

Based on a complaint filed by Mehruddin Khan, a road contractor, Jaiswal was caught red-handed while accepting Rs 3 lakh cash at his official residence on Wednesday, Saraf said.

Another officer said that when Jaiswal's residence was being searched, the Lokayukta police team found a cash of Rs 9.27 lakh kept in an almirah.

He said when the search operation was on, the PWD officer complained of uneasiness due to high blood pressure and taken to a nearby hospital.

The official said that Khan's firm had constructed roads at Mhow in Indore district and Julwania of Badwani district and the PWD officer had sought bribe to clear his bills of Rs 50 lakh.

A case under the Prevention of Corruption Act has been registered in this connection, the official said.