By Our Staff Reporter
Dehradun, 8 Jun: Vigilance has caught a Qanungo (a revenue department official) red handed taking a bribe of Rs 10,000 from Doiwala Tehsil of Dehradun district. The Qanungo had demanded bribe of Rs 5000 per file from a complainant. A case has been registered against the accused following the arrest.
As per the information, the complainant had registered a complaint on the toll free number that Motilal, a Qanungo with the district revenue department and resident of New Shiv Market, Shastrinagar in Jwalapur (District Haridwar), was demanding a bribe from him for disposal of his file.
An investigation revealed that the complainant’s mother had applied that declaration of her two plots be made from agricultural land to non-agricultural land on 31 October, 2021. The complainant had contacted Qanungo Motilal several times to seek an update on the files related to both the plots. As per the complaint, the Qanungo had demanded a total bribe of Rs 10,000 at the rate of Rs 5,000 per file to clear the file.
On receipt of the complaint, a team was formed after the preliminary investigation to trap the accused, as the complaint was found to be genuine. On Wednesday, Qanungo Motilal, son of the late Shakilchand, was caught red-handed from the Tehsil office while accepting the bribe of Rs 10,000 from the complainant. The accused had only recently been posted as Qanungo at Doiwala.
Superintendent of Police, Vigilance (Sector Dehradun) Renu Lohani said that the toll free number to register such complaints is proving useful in taking action against the corrupt. She added that the Vigilance team in Doiwala took action in this case and Motilal had been arrested. She added that the accused had demanded a bribe in order to attach the necessary report under Section 143 for the two plots of land in question. The Vigilance team is now investigating the case by raiding his house in Jwalapur as well.