MP: Civic engineer held for taking bribe from contractor

An in-charge executive engineer of the Burhanpur Municipal Corporation in Madhya Pradesh was nabbed on Friday by the Lokayukta police for allegedly demanding and accepting a bribe from a contractor in order to clear the latter's bills, an official said.

Executive engineer Sageer Ahmed Khan was caught red-handed from his office while taking a bribe of Rs 50,000 from complainant Sarthak Somnai, who was given two contracts for wall paintings and slogans as part of the Centre's Swacch Sarvekshan scheme, Lokayukta Deputy Superintendent of Police (DySP) Praveen Singh Baghel said.

''The complainant completed the work on February 28 and the accused demanded Rs 1.5 lakh as bribe to clear his bills totaling Rs 18.5 lakh. The executive engineer was held while accepting Rs 50,000 cash and a cheque of Rs 1 lakh that was to be returned once the contractor arranges for Rs 1 lakh,'' he said.

Khan was charged under Prevention of Corruption Act provisions but was not arrested, and was allowed to go after completion of legal formalities.