Mantralaya clerk held in Rs 1 lakh bribe case

MUMBAI: A Mantralaya clerk who made the trip to Jalgaon in pursuit of Rs 1 lakh bribe was caught red handed on Thursday.

According to a senior Anti-Corruption Bureau official, Omprakash Lakhanlal Yadav is a clerk in the revenue department. He had assured a clerk in the Amravati collector’s office a transfer to Jalgaon and had demanded Rs 1 lakh for it. Since it was an inter-division transfer, it required approval from the revenue department in Mantralaya. It is believed Yadav may have played a role in securing approval of the proposal.

After the transfer order was issued, Yadav allegedly demanded his payback. The complainant agreed to pay, but told Yadav he would have to come to Jalgaon to collect the money. Meanwhile, the complainant alerted the ACB.

An unsuspecting Yadav reached Jalgaon and landed in the ACB net. An offence under the Prevention of Corruption Act has been registered against Yadav and a report will be submitted to the revenue department.

Significantly, Yadav insisted on the bribe though the transfer order was issued long back, and the complainant had already joined the Jalgaon collector’s office.

A senior bureaucrat said, “Last week, the deputy director of land records was arrested following his involvement in a Rs 1.7-crore bribery case. He was posted in Pune on the recommendation of a union cabinet member.”