A patwari was trapped and arrested by Anti-corruption Bureau (ACB) on Thursday after receiving a complaint alleging therein Sudershan Khajuria, Patwari Halqa Khanpur Tehsil Marheen District Kathua demanded illegal gratification for rectifying complainant’s Girdawari entry. The Patwari demanded and accepted a bribe of Rs 15000.
In a statement the spokesperson said, “Under compelling circumstances, the complainant had given Rs 5000 to the said Patwari. After negotiation, the accused has agreed to take bribe amount of Rs 15000 instead of agreed Rs 25000 from the complainant for doing the needful.”
As per the statement, The accused had initially demanded a bribe of Rs 30,000 from the complainant, then 25000 rupees and finally settled at rupees 15000.
However, the complainant took the legal route as he didn’t want to bribe the accused. He approached the Anti-corruption Bureau and filed a complaint against the patwari, the statement added.
“On receipt of the complaint, a discreet verification was conducted, which confirms the demand of bribe by the public servant concerned and accordingly, a case FIR No. 01/2025 U/S 7 of Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 was registered in Police Station ACB Jammu and investigation taken up,” it reads.
“During the course of investigation, a trap team headed by was constituted. The team laid a successful trap and accused public servant was caught red-handed while demanding and accepting bribe amount of Rs 15,000 from the complainant in the presence of independent witnesses. The accused was arrested on the spot by the ACB team after following due process of law. The bribe money was also recovered from his possession in presence of independent witnesses associated with the trap team. Moreover, searches were also conducted in the residential house/office premises of the accused in presence of independent witness and Magistrate,” the statement reads, adding that further investigation of the instant case is going on.