The vigilance bureau (VB) caught a contractual employee posted at the office of the director, land records department, Jalandhar, red-handed while accepting a bribe of ₹4,000 in lieu of providing land records to the complainant.
A VB official spokesperson said that the accused, Parvesh, has been arrested based on a complaint lodged by a resident of Chhokra village in the Dasuya tehsil, district SBS Nagar.
“The complainant stated that his wife had filed a civil suit in the court at Dasuya seeking her lawful share of 12 acres of ancestral land. In this regard, certified copies of jamabandi, land allotment and deposit records were required to establish ownership of the land. The complainant said he applied to the office of the director of land records at Jalandhar for getting records of his land. Despite repeated visits, the requisite records were not supplied. During this process, accused Parvesh met the complainant and claimed that he would arrange the required records as well as their translation from Urdu to Punjabi,” the spokesperson said. He allegedly demanded ₹10,000 for providing the records and ₹12,000 for translation work, totalling to ₹22,000, the spokesperson added.
The complainant stated that an amount of ₹18,000 has already been paid to the accused Parvesh on different dates through Google Pay and cash, under compulsion. Thereafter, Parvesh further demanded ₹4,000, he added.
The spokesperson added that the VB team laid a trap during which the accused was arrested red-handed while accepting a bribe of ₹4,000 from the complainant.
A case under the Prevention of Corruption Act has been registered against the accused at VB police station Jalandhar, and further investigation into this case is in progress, he added.
