PWD SE booked for seeking ₹21 lakh bribe

AMRITSAR : A superintending engineer (SE) of the public works department (B&R) has been booked for allegedly demanding Rs 21 lakh bribe from a contractor at the “behest of ministers” for approving a tender for widening a road, the police said on Saturday.

The case was registered on Friday at the Batala Civil Lines police station after a court of judicial magistrate first class (JMIC) issued an order to investigate the matter. The accused, Varinder Kumar of Phagwara, who is presently posted as superintending engineer of the PWD (B&R) in Pathankot, had reportedly received Rs 3.5 lakh of the bribe money for approving the tender for the widening of the Amritsar-sohian-fatehgarh Churian road from private contractor Harvinder Singh, alias Lali of Batala.

The contractor had approached the JMIC in February demanding the registration of a first information report (FIR) against the SE. The contractor, who with his brother Harsimran Singh, runs M/S Shiva Construction Company, said in his complaint that the state government had allotted the tender of widening the road to his company in 2021 and he had deposited the requisite earnest amount of Rs 33.79 lakh besides the cost bidding documents’ fee of Rs 50,000 through net banking. He said the tender was accepted by the government, but the SE, who was posted in Amritsar then and was a member of the reviewing committee, demanded Rs 21 lakh bribe in lieu of approving the project.

He said despite his assurance that his company followed all norms and conditions, the accused kept calling him to his office to “pressurise” him for paying Rs 21 lakh bribe. On August 8, 2021, the accused came to my house and demanded a bribe. “I paid Rs 2.5 lakh to him and recorded the entire episode on my mobile phone in which it is clear that he was demanding and received the bribe at the behest of the PWD (B&R) chief engineer and other ministers,” the victim said.

The complainant reportedly paid Rs 1 lakh more bribe to the accused and recorded the episode on his mobile phone on August 11, 2021. The contractor had produced the recordings in the local court. The court, on February 18 directed the then SHO to investigate the case.