Two C'garh town planning dept staff held for bribery

Two personnel from the Town and Country Planning department of the Chhattisgarh government were arrested on Friday by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 1 lakh in the state's Bastar district, an official said. In charge deputy director Devesh Kumar Baghel and clerk Abdul Rauf Khan of the TCP department, posted in Jagdalpur, were caught red-handed while accepting the bribe from Lekh Ram Dewangan for renewal of the approved layout of his plot of land, Superintendent of Police (ACB) Manish Sharma said.

"Dewangan owns a 4.5-acre plot of land in Kondagaon district and he was developing a residential colony there. He filed an application at the TCP department for renewal of the approved layout of his land. For the purpose, Baghel and Khan had demanded a bribe of Rs 2 lakh from him. They brought it down to Rs 1 lakh later," Sharma said. Dewangan approached the ACB which laid a trap on Friday and apprehended the two, he added..