The Special Police Establishment of lokayukta on Saturday caught Deputy Commissioner of Sales Tax red-handed while accepting a bribe of Rs2 lakh.
Three complainants- Kamal Panchvani, Ashok Bajaj and Sanjeev Shrivastava filed a complaint against Deputy Commissioner of Commercial Tax Pradeep Kumar Singh, stating that he was demanding bribe for the smooth functioning of their business.
The three complainants are members of Prantiya Transport Welfare Association Bhopal and they have claimed that the accused has been harassing the transport service owners for long and fearing action against them the victims never approached authorities to complain but the three decided to lodge a complaint with the lokayukta police.
lokayukta SP Siddharth Choudhary told that the complainants have alleged that the accused was demanding money from the truck owners for ‘hassle -free’ entry and exit of their vehicles in the city. The department officials will not interrupt the flow of their vehicles but for this support they were asked to pay Rs4 lakh per month.
The accused demanded Rs2 lakh as part payment to be delivered at his office at Bittan market. After the complaint was received a team was formed and the complainants were sent with two stacks of currency notes in the denomination of Rs1,000 and Rs500, he added.
The lokayukta police have registered a case under Prevention of Corruption Act against the accused. Choudhary has ordered for further investigation and has instructed to search for other victims and amount collected from them by the accused.