In another case of a Government officer being caught red-handed while taking bribe in Uttarakhand, an additional engineer of the power sub-station at Chilikaya, Ramnagar in Nainital district Subodh Negi was arrested on Thursday while he was taking a bribe of Rs 10, 000 from a person against clearing payment of a bill involving Government works.

In his written complaint lodged with the vigilance department, Haldwani sector on April 16, the complainant had alleged that Negi kept sitting on clearing his due long after he had completed his assigned power department-related works. He further had alleged that despite the assigned work being completed in 2017 the engineer whenever approached for the clearance of the payment turned him back while insisting on the payment of the amount he demanded as bribe. Besides, as per the complaint, the engineer had not included the work done by the complainant in the official records of the department to put further pressure on him to shell out the bribe. The complainant had finally agreed to pay Rs 10,000 to the engineer and at the same time he had approached SP, Haldwani sector vigilance and registered a compliant, the Vigilance officers said.

Subsequently after the complaint was lodged, a team with Arun Kumar as its head was formed to trap the engineer. A case under appropriate sections of Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 was registered against the accused in Haldwani sector vigilance after the engineer was arrested in Ramnagar, police informed.

Notably, toll free number – 1800-180-6666 is available for the people to inform the vigilance department about any corrupt practice being indulged in by the Government officers. What’s App number- 9456592300 is also available for the same purpose. Besides, the department has opened account on facebook (fight against corruption Uttarakhand) and a website www.vigilance.uk.gov.in has also been developed to help the people inform about corrupt practice.

Additional engineer caught accepting bribe