Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Mar 8: The Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) has apprehended a forester and another official from Range Office Watergam in Baramulla District red-handed for demanding and accepting a bribe of Rs 12,500.
Mansoor Ahmad, the forester and Mushtaq Ahmad, the Range Office employee were arrested for demanding the bribe to process and issue the transit permits.
The arrests were made on the basis of a detailed investigation carried out by the ACB to validate the allegations of one person from Rafiabad, Baramulla, who had filed a written complaint against the duo.
Quoting the complainant, who is engaged in the timber business, an ACB spokesperson said the former had alleged that he was coerced into paying bribes for transit permits required to transport timber from Baramulla to Srinagar.
The complainant, after being asked for a bribe of Rs 3,500 for a permit already issued, approached the ACB with a written complaint.
Upon discreet verification of the allegations, the ACB spokesperson said, a case was registered under the Prevention of Corruption Act 1988 and Section 120-B of the IPC.
A trap team was then assembled, resulting in the successful apprehension of the accused while accepting the bribe, he said.
Both individuals were promptly arrested, and the bribe money was recovered from them, the ACB spokesperson said.
Further investigation into the case is underway, he added.
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