Officials of the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) in Rajasthan have arrested an officer of the Indian Revenue Service (IRS) posted at the Narcotics Bureau for allegedly taking a bribe of Rs 1 lakh from an opium cultivator.
After the officer, Sahiram Meena, additional commissioner, Narcotics Bureau (Kota zone), was arrested on Saturday, the ACB sleuths confiscated Rs 2.26 crore unaccounted cash from one of his residences in Jaipur. Jewellery worth Rs 6 lakh and papers of properties amounting to crores were also found from his residences.
After the arrest, raids were held in his residence as well as a petrol pump and marriage garden owned by him on the instruction of ADG ACB Saurabh Srivastava and IG ACB Dinesh MN.
The officials also seized property documents, including those of 23 plots registered in the name of Meena, 42 plots in the name of his wife, 23 plots in the name of his son, allotment papers of 22 shops in the name of his wife, ownership documents of marriage gardens, plots in housing societies, papers of flats in New Delhi, Mumbai, and five bigha agricultural land. Documents of 15 bank accounts and four heavy trucks were also found.
In a statement, the ACB said it received information on collusion between officials of the narcotic department, Kota, and village heads related to licensed opium cultivators. “A man among licensed opium cultivators is appointed as head by the narcotics bureau for better coordination. We received reports of various irregularities and illegal activities in collusion between department officials and such heads,” said Thakur Chander Sheel Kumar, additional superintendent of police, ACB, Kota Range.
Officials said the ACB intercepted the phones of Meena and one Kamlesh who was suspected of acting as a tout between the arrested official and heads of opium cultivators.
“A trap was set and we apprehended Meena when he was accepting a bribe of Rs 1 lakh from Kamlesh on Saturday in Kota in exchange of making the latter’s father a head of opium cultivators. Both Meena and Kamlesh were arrested,” said Kumar. Officials said that an amount of Rs 3.95 lakh was also recovered from Meena.
“Investigation is going on and at present the estimated value of the properties owned by the accused appears to be more than Rs 100 crore. We are also investigating the role of other officials of the narcotics department,” said an ACB official on condition of anonymity.
