The Special Vigilance Unit (SVU) apprehended two municipal officials from Sikandra in Jamui district on Tuesday while they were allegedly taking a bribe of Rs 50,000. The arrested individuals have been identified as Santosh Kumar, Municipal Executive Officer of Nagar Panchayat Sikandra, and Sonu Kumar, a sanitation worker (swachhata sathi) at the same office.
Complaint and Investigation
SVU Additional Director General of Police Pankaj Kumar Darad stated that a complaint was filed by Rajesh Kumar Mishra, a resident of Lahila Tola under Sikandra police station. The complainant alleged that the duo demanded over Rs 1 lakh as a bribe to approve his application under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY). During verification by the SVU team, the accused reportedly told Mishra that his application would not be approved unless he paid Rs 50,000 as the first installment.
Threats and Demands
Santosh Kumar allegedly demanded Rs 2,500 per applicant from ward councillor Rajesh Kumar Mishra for clearing PMAY applications in ward no. 03, where around 60 applicants had applied. He threatened to reject the applications if the bribe was not paid.
Legal Action
Following the complaint, the SVU police station registered a case on Tuesday against the duo under Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (as amended in 2018) and Section 61(2)(a) of the Indian Penal Code. Physical verification of applications across 12 wards in Sikandra was conducted through geo-tagging. A raid team led by Sudhir Kumar, Deputy SP, SVU, Patna, carried out the operation. Both accused were arrested on their office premises.
Darad added that interrogation is ongoing, and further legal proceedings and investigation are in progress.
