Punjab VB arrests SDO in bribery case during Panchayat elections

Chandigarh: Punjab Vigilance Bureau (VB) has registered a corruption case against Gulab Singh, Sub Divisional Officer (SDO), Irrigation department Ferozepur, and Davinder Singh, Agricultural Sub-Inspector, Ferozepur, for demanding and accepting a bribe of Rs 15 lakh.

Both the accused were Returning Officer (RO) and Assistant Returning Officer (ARO), respectively, during the recently held Panchayat elections who had taken the bribe money from a candidate.

In this case, one of the main accused SDO Gulab has been arrested and the VB teams are searching for the other accused.

A spokesperson of the VB said a case has been registered against both the aforementioned public servants following an investigation into a complaint lodged by Gurpreet Singh, a farmer from village Mana Singh Wala, block Ghall Khurd, in Ferozepur on the Chief Minister’s Anti-Corruption Action Line.

He informed that during the investigation, it was found that the complainant had filed his nomination papers to contest election for the position of sarpanch in the recently held elections from his village.

As per the complaint, accused Gulab, being RO at block Ghall Khurd, had demanded and accepted a bribe of Rs 10 lakh from the complainant on October 4 in the presence of Davinder, who was deployed as the ARO. Additionally, on October 5, an unknown individual collected another Rs 5 lakh on behalf of Gulab at a petrol pump close to his residence on Baghi Road, Ferozepur. Despite paying the bribe, his papers for the sarpanch position were rejected.