In a first, a Bihar-cadre IAS officer was sent to jail after being caught in a case of corruption. The 2013-batch official Jeetendra Gupta, was arrested by the Vigilance Department from Mohania in Kaimur district on Wednesday.
Gupta, who was posted as Sub-Divisional Officer (SDO) in Mohania, was caught taking bribe of Rs 80,000 from a transporter. He had been posted as SDO in Mohania in December 2015 and it was his first posting. After a high-voltage drama throughout Wednesday at the Vigilance Department’s office here, he was finally sent to jail on Wednesday evening and remanded to a 14-day judicial custody.
Gupta, who hails from Delhi, is likely to be suspended from the service. General Administration Department Principal Secretary Amir Subhani said there is a provision of automatic suspension of the civil servant if he spends 48 hours in prison.
While being taken to the special vigilance court, Gupta rebuked reporters, saying, “What the hell are you doingIJ Don’t you have any senseIJ Only allegations have been leveled against me and this does not make me a culprit.” Gupta was also holding additional charge of Deputy Commissioner land Reforms in Mohania.
The IAS Association of Bihar came in support of Gupta. Two office-bearers of the association, Vivek Kumar Singh and Deepak Kumar Singh, went to meet Gupta in the vigilance office and some IAS officials of 2013 batch tried their best to protect their colleague, but in vain. The association at a meting protersted Gupta’s arrest and pleaded that he had not been caught accepting bribe red handed. The vigilance sleuths said there had been irrefutable evidence against Gupta and there was no other option but to send him to the jail. The IAS officer’s wife and his lawyers were also seen roaming in the vigilance bureau. Director General of vigilance bureau Ravindra Kumar had already clarified that Gupta was arrested in a bribery case.
Gupta is accused of accepting bribe of Rs 80,000 from a transporter whose four iron rod-laden trucks had been detained by Gupta at Mohania on July 3. The trucks from Jamshedpur in Jharkhand were going to Rajasthan. Two of the trucks were found overloaded and the SDO demanded a bribe of Rs 1.50 lakh to release all the four trucks. later, he agreed to release them on payment of Rs 80,000.
The transporter informed the vigilance bureau and the moment he paid the money to Gupta the vigilance sleuths pounded on him. The money was recovered from his driver. Driver Sanjay Tewari and house guard Ashok Srivastava have also been arrested. The papers of the seized trucks were found in SDO’s official car.
Kaimur DM RP Singh, who disliked the way Gupta was arrested, said he was informed about the SDO’s arrest after the vigilance team took him to Patna.