ACB lodged 246 cases in state last year, highest in a decade

Gurgaon: The anti-corruption bureau (ACB) – which probes government departments and employees – registered 246 cases across the state last year, the most in the last decade.
The city accounted for 20% of these cases. More than 200 people, including bureaucrats and tehsildars, were arrested in the 49 cases that were registered in the city.
Apart from these, nearly 50 complaints were registered against officials of MCG, HSVP as well as other government departments and policemen.
Since these complaints are under investigation, FIRs are yet to be lodged.
Chander Mohan, SP (ACB), said the number of cases registered in the city in 2022 had increased by nearly three times in a year. “The trust of people in the bureau has increased with the action we have taken against officials. That is why we have been getting more complaints,” he added.
Among those arrested by the ACB in the city were two civil service officers, a home guard commandant, a district education officer, tehsildar and others.
In September last year, the then SDM of Pataudi, Rajesh Prajapati, was arrested for allegedly demanding Rs 55 lakh for settling a stamp duty liability.
This January, Wakeel Ahmed – a 2016 batch state civil service officer – and his brother Fakrudeen were arrested following complaints of extortion, cheating and bribery against them.
They were accused of taking Rs 9.6 lakh from a woman candidate to ensure her victory in the zilla parishad polls in Nuh.
In many of the cases, the ACB laid traps to catch officials red handed. For instance, Rampal Dhankar, the district education officer in Nuh, was arrested for demanding Rs 10 lakh to facilitate an order to buy benches for a school.
Of the 246 cases that were registered last year, 170 were filed after officials were caught accepting bribes. A total of Rs 6.2 crore was seized during these raids.
Data sourced from the bureau revealed that as many 193 government employees – 27 gazetted officers, 166 non-gazetted officials – and 27 others were arrested last year in the city.
“The bureau has shifted its focus from junior level clerks and patwaris to senior officials and police officers. Corruption rackets are managed mostly at the senior level, we have found,” an ACB official said.
The official explained that the bureau had brought in a number of changes in the way it operated to rein in more officials. Among them is ‘trap money’ – which is used to lure officials under the radar. The Haryana government has also sanctioned Rs 100 crore and 809 additional posts to strengthen vigilance in the state.
The ACB is also tapping its informants and sources to get more information about officials accused of taking bribes.