A team of Central Bureau of Investigation’s Dehradun branch caught a superintendent passport officer red-handed in the act of accepting a bribe.
Second to the regional passport officer in the official hierarchy, the superintendent passport officer KP Singh was nabbed by the authorities on Monday evening while he was in act of receiving an amount of Rs 8,000 in bribe at the Dehradun passport office. He was caught accepting the bribe from Haridwar resident M Ahmed.
It was reported that the accused officer had demanded bribe amounting to Rs 8, 000 on the pretext of issuing him a passport to enable him to undertake the Haj pilgrimage, said Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Akhil Kaushik. Singh will be produced in the court on Tuesday, he added.
In his written complaint to CBI Dehradun branch on Monday morning, the complainant M Ahmed stated that he had reached the Dehradun passport office many times to secure the passport. He stated that he had also made repeated requests to the officer for issuance of his passport soon as he had also applied to the Haj committee for permission. Singh reportedly kept on deferring the task and then later sought Rs 8,000 in bribe from the applicant. The complainant fixed the deal and also informed the CBI office about it.
Kaushik said that the an official team first verified the validity of the allegations leveled by the complainant. After verification of the allegation a trap was set up to apprehend the accused red-handed. Kaushik said that he had received several complaints against Singh in the past too.