The sleuths of the Directorate of Vigilance & Anti-Corruption on Wednesday arrested an Assistant Engineer of the Irrigation division in Assam’s Baksa district under the Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR).

The arrested public servant has been identified as Mridul Duari, Assistant Engineer of the Office of the Executive Engineer, Suklai Serfang Goreswar Division (Irrigation), District – Baksa (BTR), Assam.

According to an official release, Duari has demanded an amount of Rs 30,000 from the as bribe from the complainant in the name of issuing work order to the complainant who was awarded with a contract through tender process in the said Irrigation Division.

He later reduced the bribe amount to Rs 25,000, the release stated.

Unwilling to pay the bribe, the complainant approached this vigilance cell for taking necessary legal action against the accused.

Accordingly, a trap was laid by the team at the office and Duari was caught red handed, immediately after he accepted Rs 20,000 as part of the demanded bribe from the friend of the complainant who had approached the public servant on behalf of the complainant.

The tainted bribe money was then seized from the possession of the accused in presence of independent witnesses.

“During the search of the body of the apprehended public servant, an additional amount of Rs. 10,000/- (ten thousand only) has been recovered from his possession and has also been seized in presence of independent witnesses,” the release stated.

“In this connection, a case has been registered in ACB Police Station on 10/05/2023 vide ACB P.S. Case No. 33/2023 under Section 7(a) of Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (as amended in 2018) against Sh.Mridul Duari,” it added.