HCS officer held by vigilance in probe into ’20 graft plaint

Gurgaon: A court on Thursday granted the state vigilance bureau one day’s remand of HCS officer Rajesh Prajapati in connection with a corruption case.
Rajesh Prajapati, currently holding the charge of OSD to Hisar’s divisional commissioner, was arrested by the vigilance bureau on Wednesday after he was called for questioning in connection with the case. Though the vigilance sleuths sought three-day custody, the court granted them one-day remand for custodial interrogation.
The case dates back to August 2020, when Sanjeev Saluja, a resident of Faridabad, wrote to Gurgaon’s deputy commissioner alleging corruption by Prajapati.
As per the complaint, in the Khawaspur village of the Pataudi area, the complainant had taken 4 Kanal and 12 marla land on a lease of 99 years. For this, the complainant had paid Rs 61 lakh as stamp duty and other charges.
However, in 2018, as per the complaint, Saluja cancelled the lease due to which the tehsil office raised a liability of about Rs 12.5 crore against him. Saluja soon filed an appeal with Prajapati, then Pataudi SDM.
According to the complainant, on January 26, 2020, Prajapati invited Saluja to his house to strike a deal to absolve him of his liabilities. The deal was to give Rs 55 lakh to Prajapati. Of the amount, the complainant paid Rs 18 lakh in three installments to Prajapati.
However, the work for which the money was given never materialized and the complainant went to Gurgaon DC with audio recordings and chats as “proof of bribery” in August that year. The Gurgaon DC then recommended to the state government a vigilance probe against the officer.
“During the probe, the charges of bribery and extortion against Prajapati were confirmed, following which he was booked,” sources said.