Two govt employees held for accepting ₹60K bribe in Jharkhand’s Giridih

The accused were identified as field officer Rakesh Kumar Pascal and accountant Rakesh Kumar. Pascal was arrested earlier too in a bribery case in 2016 when he was posted in Hazaribagh.

An anti-corruption bureau (ACB) team from Dhanbad on Thursday arrested two employees of the land conservation department in Giridih for allegedly accepting ₹60,000 in bribe from a contractor at their rented accommodation in Barganda Colony.

The accused were identified as field officer Rakesh Kumar Pascal and accountant Rakesh Kumar. Pascal was arrested earlier too in a bribery case in 2016 when he was posted in Hazaribagh.

The ACB team, led by deputy superintendent of police (DySP) Chandreshwar Prasad and Inspector KN Singh, also recovered ₹8 lakh in ₹2,000 and ₹500 denominations from the accused’s residence. “Paskal and Kumar were living in the same rented house,” said Prasad.

Prasad said Pascal demanded a 19% commission from one Ashok Kumar from Dumri for clearing a bill for construction of pond. The total cost of the project was ₹15.85 lakh.

According to the complainant, the men had earlier cleared part of the project cost. To clear the rest ₹8.80 lakh, they demanded ₹1.67 lakh. Ashok agreed to pay ₹60,000 in the first instalment and the rest after the bill was cleared.

Meanwhile, Ashok filed a complaint with an ACB team, which laid a trap to arrest the duo. On Thursday, ACB nabbed the government employees while they were accepting Rs60,000.

After raids at their residence, the ACB team also searched the duo’s office premises in Giridih and seized several documents. It was checking bills approved by them.

A Dhanbad court remanded Kumar and Pascal in judicial custody on Thursday.