Officials of the Punjab Vigilance Bureau on Monday arrested a senior IAS officer, V. K. Janjua, for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs.2 lakh from a Ludhiana-based industrialist in his Udyog Bhavan office here.
According to SP (Vigilance) S. S. Mand, who led the operation, the officer has been booked under Sections 7 and 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act. At the time of his arrest, the officer was said to be accepting the amount, which was part of a “deal” to transfer a piece of government land located adjacent to the unit owned by the complainant, T. R. Mishra.
Mr. Mand said that Mr. Mishra had approached the Bureau with a complaint that the IAS officer had demanded Rs.6 lakh for the job. However, the “deal” was settled at Rs.5 lakh, of which Rs.2 lakh was to be paid as advance. Accordingly, the Bureau laid its trap in the morning.
Mr. Mishra had contested the last Lok Sabha election on SP ticket and is also the president of the Ludhiana Focal Point Welfare Association as well as the State level association of Punjab’s dyeing units. His previous application for allotment of the same piece of land to expand his unit had been rejected in 2001.
