An Assistant Registrar is on the run after one of his subordinates was caught red-handed by the Anti-Corruption Branch sleuths while allegedly accepting a bribe at the Registrar Co-operative Society office at Parliament Street here on Friday. The first arrest comes within 48 hours of the anti-corruption helpline becoming operational.
The trap was laid on the basis of a sting operation conducted by a complainant as per the advice he received from the ACB. Stating that the helpline received over 23,000 calls since it became operational, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday said: “One person was trapped today at the Assistant Registrar’s office. While a staff member was picked up, the Assistant Registrar ran away. The proof is sufficient and we are trying to track him down.”
He also announced a new four-digit ‘1031’ number for the anti-corruption helpline in addition to 011-27357169 and said both numbers will be operational and ready to receive calls on corruption-related complaints. “I request people to only use this helpline for complaints related to corruption. We have noticed that more calls have been made for grievances rather than for corruption-related issues,” he said.
Mr. Kejriwal said 16 more callers were ready to conduct a sting and 85 more have said that they will go ahead with the sting. “Yesterday, there was a person who was almost trapped, but at the last minute he said he will get the work done without accepting money,” said Mr. Kejriwal, adding that he himself had seen the clipping.
While the helpline had picked up 11,800 calls till 10 p.m. on Thursday night, 11,300 calls were made till 5 p.m. on Friday. “As Saturday and Sunday will be a holiday, we expect large-scale operations on Monday. If they are all watching TV or reading newspapers they will become cautious,” he said.
