The Lokayukta Police have caught the driver of an SDM while accepting a bribe of Rs 1.5 lakh in Madhya Pradesh's Jabalpur, an official said on Wednesday. According to officials, the driver, named Sunil Kumar Patel, was allegedly taking bribes to settle a matter of paddy storage.
Sangram Singh, a farmer is the complainant in the case, who has alleged that the female SDM had demanded Rs 3 lakh bribe through her driver and finalised the deal at Rs 2.5 lakh. Following the bribery case, Deepak Saxena, Jabalpur Collector transferred Shahpura SDM Nadeema Shiri on Tuesday. She is attached to the district collector's office. In another order, the district administration suspended Sunil.
How driver was caught red-handed?
Lokayukta special police establishment's Deputy Superintendent of Police Dilip Jharwade said that in Khamdehi village of Jabalpur, people had stored paddy on one acre of land belonging to farmer Sangram Singh. A tehsildar took action against this storage. Singh said that around 4,000 sacks of paddy of Basmati variety belonging to five to six farmers were stored on the one-acre land. Terming the storage illegal, tehsildar Ravindra Patel took action and seized the produce, he added.
The case was then handed over to SDM Nadeema Shiri, who served a notice and warned of an FIR against Singh, the farmer alleged. Singh lodged a complaint, following which a trap was laid and Patel was caught taking a bribe of Rs 1.5 lakh from the farmer on Tuesday evening. Following the bribery case, Kuldeep Parashar, in-charge deputy collector, has been given additional charge of Shahpura's SDM, as per officials.
(With inputs from agencies)
