(MOREPIC1) Face2News/Chandigarh
The Punjab Vigilance Bureau (VB) during its drive against corruption in the state, has arrested Jagjivan Singh, Superintendent at the office of the Director, State Transport -cum- MD PUNBUS, Sector 17, Chandigarh, for demanding and accepting a bribe of Rs 20,000.
Disclosing this here today an official spokesperson of the VB said the accused Superintendent has been arrested following a complaint lodged by a private transporter and a resident of village Dharar, in Amritsar district.
The complaint has alleged that the said accused was demanding Rs 5,000 per bus (totaling Rs 20,000) to approve the release of his Rs 2 lakh security deposit with the department. The complainant had recorded the conversation providing irrefutable evidence of the demand. As per the complaint the refund pertains to the four buses of the complainant who had leased to PUNBUS under a kilometre scheme between the years 2014 and 2020. Despite submitting the required documents and obtaining a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the Depot Manager, Amritsar, in May 2023, his file had been deliberately delayed under frivolous pretexts for three years.
The spokesperson further added that after a preliminary enquiry of this complaint, the VB flying squad team laid a trap during which the accused Superintendent was apprehended red handed while he was receiving the bribe of Rs 20000 bribe from the complainant in the presence of two official witnesses outside his office. In this regard a case under the Prevention of Corruption Act has been registered against the accused under the prevention of corruption act at VB police station flying squad-1, Punjab at Mohali. Further investigations are ongoing to ascertain if higher officials were complicit in the extortion, he said. The VB has reiterated its zero-tolerance policy against corruption and urged citizens to report graft via helpline numbers.