STATE TIMES NEWS
JAMMU: Special Judge Anticorruption Jammu Ritesh Dubey rejected bail application of Naib Tehsildar Ashok Kumar and pre-arrest bail application of Ravinder Kumar, then Patwari Akhnoor (now Girdawar) in a corruption case.
According to ACB, one Mukesh Gupta lodged a complaint that his wife had applied for issuance of Fard in respect of land measuring 1 Kanal 19 Marlas in Khasra on. 440/299, before the then Patwari Ravinder Bhagat. Thereafter, Patwari and Naib Tehsildar, Ashok Sharma approached the complainant through their tout Raman Gupta, and demanded a bribe of Rs 30 lakh for issuance of Fard. Both of them also contacted complainant personally, and the amount was settled for Rs 15 Lakh. Both Patwari and Naib Tehsildar were later on transferred from that place, but amount of Rs 15 Lakh was demanded by Naib Tehsildar Ashok Sharma. Fard was also prepared, as complainant received a softcopy through Whatsapp from one Chiku Gupta, intending buyer, which was sent to him by tout Raman Gupta. Original Fard was stated to have been retained by Naib Tehsildar Ashok Sharma and was not provided to complainant as Naib Tehsildar was demanding a bribe of Rs 15 Lakh. Ashok Sharma told the complainant to pay bribe amount in parts, but he would provide Fard only after receiving full amount and complainant was asked to bring at least Rs 1o Lakh as first installment. On verification, the allegations were found correct and FIR 6/2022 was registered. Accordingly, a trap team was constituted, which laid a trap and caught Ashok Sharma Naib Tehsildar, red-handed, while accepting a bribe of Rs 1.5 lakh.
Special Judge Anti Corruption Jammu, Ritesh Dubey after listening to APP Irshad Ahmed for ACB, while rejecting bail applications, observed that in present case, the investigation is still incomplete, and accusations especially in view of alleged conduct of accused, whereby such a huge amount was demanded for issuance of a simple Fard, are quite serious. With these observations, the bail pleas were rejected.