Three civic officials held in corruption case

GURUGRAM: The police arrested three Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) officials on Thursday and took them in remand for two days for their alleged involvement in a bribery and corruption case, said the officials on Sunday, adding that the matter pertains to a resident of Sector 9 who was reconstructing his house there.

According to the police, three MCG officials on Wednesday reached the Devi Lal Colony in Sector 9 with an earthmover and warned that his house will be demolished as “it was an illegal property”. The MCG officials asked him to pay a “fine” of ₹100,000, and left after receiving ₹50,000 from him on the spot.

A day later when the civic body officials again visited the resident’s house to collect the remaining ₹50,000, the latter alerted the police. The locals, meanwhile, surrounded the three officials, who were later nabbed by the police. The MCG officials privy to the matter said that the resident had built his house in Sector 9 in the 1990s, and its base weakened and the ground floor was susceptible to waterlogging during the monsoon season over time. So, he was rebuilding the structure.

“The three MCG officials were presented before the court on Saturday, and taken in police remand for two days. A further investigation is underway,” said assistant sub-inspector (ASI) Vikas, Sector 9A police station.

Meanwhile, MCG commissioner Mukesh Kumar Ahuja suspended the services of a junior engineer (JE), and terminated the services of an outsourced enforcement worker for their involvement in the case. The third accused in the case works as a driver for the enforcement team.

“We will hold a meeting with all outsourced and contracted junior engineers, enforcement wing workers on Monday, and will sensitise them about the rules of the Haryana Municipal Corporation Act and the possible consequences of being involved in any type of fraud, bribery or corruption. This, we hope, will deter the MCG staff from violating rules and committing any such crime in the future,” said a senior MCG official privy to the matter, requesting anonymity.

In March, the MCG suspended a junior engineer for creating ruckus at a salon in Sector 38 after his “wife expressed disappointment over the makeup done by the staff, and did not pay ₹5,000 for the service”.

Also, in December 2021, a local court sentenced a former MCG employee to six years in imprisonment for taking a ₹2,000 bribe for issuing a birth certificate.