Naib Tehsildar Ghrota demanded Rs 25 lakh for Fard
STATE TIMES NEWS
JAMMU: Naib Tehsildar, Ashok Kumar, who was caught red-handed by Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) while accepting bribe of Rs 1.5 lakh, was sent on police remand upto July 7 by the Special Judge Anti-Corruption Jammu, Ritesh Dubey on Friday.
According to ACB, a complaint against Ashok Sharma, Naib Tehsildar and his associates for demanding a bribe of Rs 25 lakh for issuing Fard was submitted by a complainant, who alleged that he had applied for issuance of Fard in respect of land in name of his wife measuring 1 Kanal 19 Marlas under Khasra No. 440/299 situated at Mawa Karora, Sungal Morh, Akhnoor before the then Patwari Halqa Akhnoor Khas namely Ravinder Bhagat. It was alleged that after filing application, Patwari Ravinder Bhagat and Naib Tehsildar Ashok Sharma approached complainant through their tout Raman Gupta and demanded a bribe of Rs 30 lakh for issuance of Fard.
Later, on negotiation the amount was settled at Rs 25 lakh. Thereafter, both Patwari and Naib Tehsildar were transferred, but an amount of Rs 25 lakh was still being demanded by Naib Tehsildar Ashok Sharma from complainant. It was also alleged that the Fard was prepared as the complainant had received a soft copy through Whatsapp from one Chiku Gupta, who was the buyer of land, as same was sent to him by tout Raman Gupta. The original copy of Fard, which was alleged to be retained by Naib Tehsildar Ashok Sharma, was not being provided to complainant as Naib Tehsildar Ashok Sharma was demanding a bribe of Rs 25 lakh. The complainant had further alleged that he has been asked by Naib Tehsildar to bring at least Rs 1.50 lakh, after which he approached ACB for appropriate action against erring officials.
Accordingly, FIR 06/2022 was registered at Police Station ACB Central against accused under section 7, Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 read with PC (Amendment) Act, 2018 and Section 120-B of IPC for investigation. Subsequently, a trap team was constituted which laid a successful trap and nabbed accused Ashok Kumar, Naib Tehsildar, presently posted at Gharota red handed while demanding and accepting bribe of Rs 1.5 lakh from complainant. He was arrested on the spot by ACB team and bribe was also recovered from his possession in presence of independent witnesses. Searches were also conducted in houses of all accused persons and Rs 9 lakh was seized from house of Raman Gupta, resident of Akhnoor.
