Two excise officials, driver jailed for accepting bribes

A special Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) court in Kota today sent two officers and a driver of the excise department of Bundi district to jail for accepting bribes.

District excise officer Kamlesh Parmar, circle inspector Manisha Rajpurohit and her driver Rooplal were arrested last night by ACB sleuths of Chittorgarh district.

According to the Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP), ACB Chittorgarh Chiranji Lal Meena, the two accused demanded Rs 2 lakh as bribe for allocating land to complainants Bhagwat and Himmat Singh to set up a liquor shop.

In addition, Bhagwat and Himmat were asked to cough up Rs 1 lakh in return for allowing them to keep their existing liquor shop in Ganeshpura area of the district.

After negotiation, the final amount was fixed as Rs 2.5 lakh, the ASP said adding that Parmar was to get Rs 1.5 lakh and Rajpurohit, the remaining amount.

However, as the permit for the new shop was just for one month instead of the usual 12 months, the miffed partners complained to the ACB on May 11.

Following the ACB's raid, Parmar was arrested from his residence in Devpura area and confessed to taking the bribe, Meena said. The ACB also recovered Rs 1.36 lakh from the officer's home.

Rajpurohit was arrested after the raid at Parmar's home while her driver was apprehended for accepting the bribe on her behalf, ACB said.

The excise officers and the driver were today produced before ACB court in Kota and were awarded 15 days' judicial custody, Meena said.