A team of the state vigilance department on Tuesday morning arrested the panchayat sevak of Barkagaon, Khusnarayan Mehta, from his Mission Road residence while taking bribe from a contractor, Mulchand Sao, of Keredari. After nabbing him red-handedly with the amount the vigilance team took him first to Barkagaon-Keredari and then to Ranchi.
As per information, Mehta had demanded Rs 50,000 to release a payment to the contractor who had taken the work of construction of the first floor of the panchayat building of Keredari block. The work was completed by the contractor and the panchayat sevak had withdrawn the amount.
When Mehta refused to give the cheque to Sao without getting Rs 50000, he contacted the state vigilance department which after preliminary enquiry constituted a team and arrested the panchayat sevak red-handedly. Mehta was posted in Keredari when this work was completed by the contractor. He is a resident of Ichak block and in Hazaribagh was living in a rented house.