Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) Kashmir on Tuesday claimed to have trapped a sarpanch for demanding and accepting bribe, officials said.
ACB in a statement said that a complainant approached Police Station ACB Srinagar, with a written complaint against a public servant identified as Muzaffar Ahmad Rather, Sarpanch Manigam-A, allegedly demanding bribe for settlement of property dispute between the complainant and his sister.
The two siblings had some dispute over distribution of property.
Sister of the complainant had approached the accused Sarpanch for settlement. The complainant alleged that Sarpanch has repeatedly been demanding bribe from him for settlement of the issue.
Initially an amount of Rs 20,000 was demanded by the Sarpanch, however, after negotiations, he agreed to accept an amount of Rs 9,000 from the complainant, the statement said.
The complainant did not want to pay a bribe and instead approached ACB Srinagar for taking legal action against the accused public servant as provided under law.
On receipt of the complaint, a Case FIR No. 13/2023 U/S 7 PC Act 1988 was registered with PS ACB Srinagar and investigation was taken up.
During the course of investigation, a trap team was constituted who laid a successful trap and caught the accused public servant red handed while demanding and accepting a bribe amount of Rs 9,000 from the complainant.
The money was recovered from the accused on the spot and the accused Sarpanch was arrested.
Further investigation into the case is going on, the statement added.
