Provident fund officer denied bail in graft case

Vadodara: Enforcement officer of provident fund Paru Tiwari, who was booked for accepting a bribe of Rs 1 lakh through a middleman on October 15, was denied bail on Monday.
Tiwari had sought anticipatory bail from sessions court two days after the trap pleading innocence in the case. However, her bail was opposed by anti-corruption bureau by informing the court that she faces serious corruption charges and her custodial interrogation is necessary for investigative purposes.

Cops argued that her interrogation is necessary so that they can know if any other official of the department was involved with her or not. The court after hearing both side, turned down Tiwari’s plea.

Tiwari had demanded a bribe of Rs 1.25 lakh from the complainant who runs an IT company in city to settle a case of pending PF contribution. The complainant had approached the middleman Hasmukh Trivedi, who claimed to be a PF consultant, to sort the payment issues.

Trivedi told her that he knows Tiwari and would settle the case, but she will have to “give something” to Tiwari. Initially, the complainant was told she would have to pay Rs 7 lakh, but the amount was later reduced to Rs 1.25 lakh.

The complainant approached ACB and as per the trap plan, Trivedi was nabbed for accepting the bribe of Rs 1 lakh on behalf of Tiwari. She had agreed to accept Rs 1 lakh when the complainant said that she had Rs 25,000 less. ACB sleuths could not arrest Tiwari as she managed to flee after Trivedi’s arrest.