Three PWD officials from J&K arrested for bribery

The CBI has arrested three officials of Jammu and Kashmir's Public Works Department for allegedly receiving a bribe of Rs 1.5 lakh from a building contractor at Reasi in Udhampur, officials said on Friday.

The agency took superintending engineer Hilal Ahmad Sheikh, technical officer PK Koul and junior engineer Sanjay Koul, all of PWD (R&B), Circle Udhampur-Reasi into custody followed by searches at their residence and office premises, they said. ''The complainant said his firm was awarded tender for constructing a medical sub-centre in Reasi during 2017-18 and that he had executed a part of project. However, Sheikh then demanded a bribe of Rs 3 lakh for processing the file related to technical sanction of the project,'' CBI Spokesperson RC Joshi said.

The PWD engineers had asked the complainant to meet at a certain place and pay a part of the bribe, he said, adding the investigative agency used this meeting to catch the accused red-handed.

''Sanjay Koul, the junior engineer, arrived at the designated place to collect the money on behalf of Sheikh and on the instructions of PK Koul and was nabbed,'' Joshi said. ''Later, Sheikh and the technical officer were also caught,'' he said.

Searches were conducted at the office and residential premises of the accused at Jammu, Udhampur and Srinagar, he said.

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