The Uttarakhand High Court on Monday rejected the stay on arrest petition of Mussoorie Dehradun Development Authority (MDDA) assistant engineer TP Nautiyal, who has been absconding since he was named in a bribery case some days ago. Uttarakhand vigilance director and additional director general of police Ashok Kumar has recently announced a cash reward of `20,000 for information leading to the whereabouts of the absconding engineer.
The vigilance team conducted raids at various places across the State to nab Nautiyal without success so far.
It will be recalled that MDDA supervisor Amit Kumar was arrested by vigilance while accepting Rs one lakh in bribe from the complainant lakshmichand on February 3. On being questioned, he told the police that he was accepting the bribe at the behest of Nautiyal. The district court has already issued non-bailable warrant against Nautiyal.
In the meanwhile, the MDDA administration has already initiated departmental action against the fugitive assistant engineer. Members of the vigilance team which conducted raids on homes of the supervisor and assistant engineer found grounds to believe that the duo had amassed wealth and assets disproportionate to their known sources of income. The vigilance has lodged disproportionate assets cases against the two MDDA personnel.
It will be recalled that lakshmichand had said that he had visited the MDDA office many times to present relevant documents related to a complaint lodged by his neighbour. He was told by the personnel in question that he would have to bribe them in order to make them come up with the case report in his favour. After haggling over the bribe amount, a figure of Rs five lakh was finalised as the amount to be paid in bribe. The complainant was told that the bribe would be accepted by either the assistant engineer or the supervisor.