Forest officer, associate caught taking Rs 2 lakh bribe in Gujarat's Amreli

Ahmedabad: The Anti-Corruption Bureau has caught a range forest officer (RFO) and another person for allegedly taking a bribe of Rs 2 lakh from a contractor in Gujarat's Amreli district, the ACB said on Sunday.

The contractor had in the past paid Rs 90,000 as bribe to RFO Yograjsinh Rathod to release Rs 5 lakh deposited by him as security for the annual contract of civil construction at the forest department in Rajula, the ACB said in a release.

"After the contract work was completed, the complainant (contractor) asked Rathod to release the deposit amount. The RFO demanded a bribe of Rs 10 lakh from the complainant, including a percentage of the commission for the work done in the annual contract, and to release Rs 5 lakh deposited by him," it said.

Despite being paid Rs 90,000, the forest officer continued to press for the bribe amount, the anti-graft agency said.

The contractor then approached the ACB as he did not wish to pay him the bribe amount.

Acting on his complaint, the ACB laid a trap and caught Rathod and his accomplice Vismay Rajyaguru, a contractual computer operator at his office, red-handed while accepting Rs 2 lakh as bribe on Saturday, the release said.