2 junior government officers held in separate ACB traps

Surat: Anti-corruption bureau sleuths caught an accountant of a pension office in the city red-handed while he was allegedly accepting Rs 60,000 as bribe from the widow of a government employee who had died on duty.

Accused Vivke Kevadiya was caught in his office in Jilla Seva Sadan on Tuesday. The woman had approached the office to claim a hike in the pension and its arrears.

She was eligible for Rs 2.6 lakh arrears and to process it the accused demanded Rs 60,000.

The trap was laid by A K Chauhan, police inspector, under supervision of N P Gohil, assistant director, Surat.

“The beneficiary was to get an automatic hike in pension and payment of arrears but the accused tried to collect the money by putting the complainant in fear,” said an ACB officer.

In another trap, ACB team from Vadodara caught a talati taking a bribe of Rs 47,500 from a construction contractor in Bharuch. The accused Rajan Patel had demanded 5.5 per cent of the total pending bill Rs 8.65 lakh of a road and paver block work. He was caught accepting the bribe outside Jhagadia Gram Panchayat office.

Patel demanded the bribe to process the payment of Rs 8.65 lakh to the contractor who had completed the work but for payment the accused was demanding a bribe. The trap was laid by M K Swami , police inspector, under supervision of P H Bhesaniya, assistant director, ACB, Vadodara.