Med officer, colleague caught red-handed taking ₹1L bribe in Lalitpur

Jhansi: The vigilance department caught the caretaker of the Regional Ayurvedic and Unani medical officer and his subordinate red-handed while taking a bribe of Rs 1 lakh from a person seeking a licence to start private practice in Lalitpur on Thursday.

The victim applied for the licence at the office on April 16. When the process got delayed, he approached officer Arjun Lal Ahirwar to obtain the licence. Lal demanded Rs 1,50,000 as a bribe for releasing the licence and said the money had to be paid in the presence of his subordinate Ramkrishna Gupta to maintain the transparency.

The victim then approached the vigilance department in Jhansi and lodged a complaint. After an initial investigation, a vigilance team, headed by Inspector Piyush Pandey, laid a trap on the office premises and sent the victim with the money laced with a special chemical.

As soon as the money was handed over to the accused, the team detained them. According to the team head, a case was lodged against both accused under Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption Act 1988 at the city Kotwali. Both accused will be presented before a special magistrate in Jhansi on Friday.