Rajasthan: Baran district collector removed after PA arrested for taking Rs 1.4 lakh bribe

JAIPUR/KPTA: The Rajasthan government on Wednesday night removed Baran district collector Indra Singh after his personal assistant (PA) was arrested by the anti-corruption bureau for taking a bribe of Rs 1.4 lakh, officials said.

The collector's PA, Mahaveer Naagar, was arrested on Wednesday evening while taking the bribe in lieu of issuing a no objection certificate (NOC) for a petrol pump.

Later, the department of personnel in Jaipur issued an order to put the collector, an IAS officer, under the APO (awaiting posting orders) status till further orders.

However, no reason for the action was mentioned in the order.

The director general of the anti-corruption bureau (ACB) said there was a complaint against the PA that he had demanded the bribe for issuing NOC for a petrol pump.

After verification of the complaint, a team led by Additional SP (Kota) Thakur Chandrasheel arrested the accused PA.

The ACB team recovered the bribe amount of Rs 1.40 lakh from the PA's office.

Naagar, in the initial interrogation, claimed to have accepted the bribe on behalf of the collector.

He said that the collector's share was Rs 1 lakh and he took Rs 40,000 for himself.

The ACB team also conducted a search at the residence of the PA.