Senior BSNL officer nabbed red-handed taking bribe

A senior BSNL officer was caught red-handed here for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 42,000 for clearing bills of a contractor, Lokayukta police said today.
The contractor Pankaj Singh Pawar tipped-off Lokayukta about the demand following which a trap was laid and the Deputy General Manager G C Tolwani was caught red-handed at the BSNL office in New Market area here, Lokayukta SP, Ujjain, Siddharth Choudhary said.
Tolwani had demanded five per cent commission for clearing Pawar's Rs 14 lakh payment, for work of laying optical fibre cable in Madsaur-Neemuch area between 2011-13, which he negotiated to three per cent and later tipped-off Lokayukta sleuths, the SP said.

Pawar told PTI that after negotiating the deal he decided not to pay the commission and informed Lokayukta officials.
He said that if other contractors also emulate him, it would be a great service to the nation, especially in curbing corruption.
A case was registered in this regard under Prevention of Corruption Act and further investigations are on.
Tolwani was arrested and was later on released on bail, Lokayukta Inspector, Basant Shrivastava said.