GUWAHATI: In yet another instance of corruption involving state government officials, a senior assistant of the Assam agriculture department was apprehended by a team from the state directorate of vigilance and anti-corruption while accepting a bribe of Rs 15,000 from the complainant on Thursday.
Official sources informed that a trap was laid, on the basis of a complaint alleging demand of bribe, at Athgaon here around 10.45 am by the vigilance and anti-corruption team following which Papori Mehta, a senior assistant of the agriculture department, posted at Janata Bhawan, was caught red-handed accepting the bribe.
Mehta had earlier demanded a bribe of Rs 1,00,000 from the complainant for processing her proposal for appointment on compassionate ground in the agriculture department.
The husband of the complainant, who was a government driver in the agriculture department, had died and the complainant had applied for appointment on compassionate grounds.
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“The accused public servant had agreed to receive the first instalment (of the bribe money), and accordingly, she had asked the complainant to come to the Athgaon area of the city on Thursday for handing over the demanded bribe money,” an official statement said.
The tainted bribe money was recovered from the possession of Mehta in the presence of independent witnesses.
A case has been registered on Thursday in the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) police station vide ACB PS case (number 04/2022) under Section 7(a) of the Prevention of Corruption Act against Mehta.
“The apprehended accused person was brought to the ACB police station for further action in accordance with law. The investigation of the case is under progress,” the statement said.
The bribery case involving a government employee is not the first at the Assam Secretariat this year. On January 4, the directorate of vigilance and anti-corruption had caught Sima Devi, a senior administrative assistant of the Welfare of Bodoland department, red handed while accepting Rs 4000 as bribe.
During search at her work place, an additional amount of Rs 99,000 was recovered by the team from her personal handbag.
It may be mentioned that such incidents that tarnish the image of the Secretariat and its employees have surfaced at a time when the chief minister had two rounds of interactions with all the Janata Bhawan employees recently.
The chief minister had underlined the need to redefine the way of work at Janata Bhawan, urging all, from the highest to the lowest levels to work collectively and serve the people.
It may be further noted that the Himanta Biswa Sarma-led Assam government is planning to migrate to the electronic-office mode from May 2023. Besides, under Project Sadbhavana launched on February 1, 2022, all pending files at the Secretariat will be cleared by May 2022, before the incumbent dispensation completes a year in office.