Mansa jail welfare officer held for graft
Officer, murder convict caught taking ₹50,000 in bribe from an inmate; deputy jail supdt also booked
Mansa jail welfare officer Sikander Singh and a murder convict Pawan Kumar were arrested while accepting ₹50,000 and a cheque of ₹86,200 as bribe from the brother of a drug case convict lodged at the jail.
BATHINDA: Mansa jail welfare officer Sikander Singh and a murder convict Pawan Kumar were arrested red-handed while accepting Rs 50,000 and a cheque of Rs 86,200 as bribe from the brother of a drug case convict lodged at the jail, on Sunday, the vigilance bureau said. Deputy jail superintendent Gurjit Singh has been booked in connection with the case, vigilance sleuths added.
“The complainant, Ravinder Singh, of Shahbad Markanda in Haryana, had approached the vigilance saying that his brother, Gaurav Kumar, was being harassed for money,” said Bathinda vigilance bureau SSP Jagjit Singh.
Gaurav is a convict in a Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act case. He was working as an assistant to Pawan, the second alleged bribe taker, in the jail canteen. Pawan is undergoing a 20-year sentence for murder.
“Deputy jail superintendent Gurjit Singh was aware that family members of some of other inmates had recently deposited Rs 86,200 in Gaurav’s bank account to be distributed among them. Gurjit wanted to extort that money,” the SSP added.
He added that two days ago, the deputy superintendent called Gaurav to his office, thrashed him and asked for the money and Rs 1 lakh as bribe for not harassing him.
“Gaurav called up his family members to meet the demand and pay the money. Gurjit used Pawan to pressure Gaurav into paying the money,” the SSP added, adding that the bureau laid a trap. The three have been booked under Sections 120B (criminal conspiracy) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the IPC and the Prevention of Corruption Act.