Govt employee held in Bihar for taking Rs 51,000 bribe

PATNA/MADHEPURA: A Vigilance Investigation Bureau team arrested government employee Dev Narayan Mehta (57) while he was allegedly accepting bribe of Rs 51,000 in a private lodge at Kabir Nagar under ward number 3 in Madhepura district on Tuesday. Mehta, who was posted at the circle office of Madhepura, had demanded bribery for preparing reports necessary to process two online land mutation applications.
A trap team led by DSP Arun Paswan arrested Mehta soon after one Suruchi Devi handed over the bribe money to him for mutation of her two plots.Sources said Suruchi’s husband is an engineer and works for a private firm in Noida, Uttar Pradesh.
“Suruchi and her husband own several plots in Madhepura. She had made an online mutation application for two plots measuring 139 decimals at Hanuman Nagar Chaura in Madhepura circle,” a source said.
He said the online applications for mutation were made on July 29 and August 11 this year, respectively.
“Since Mehta was not preparing the necessary reports due to which mutation process for both the plots was pending,” a vigilance officer said. He said Suruchi met Mehta on October 10 after visiting the Madhepura circle office several times to get her work done, but in vain.
“Then Mehta demanded Rs51,000 as bribe. Suruchi tried to bargain but the revenue employee said she will have to pay the amount,” he said.
Another officer involved in the raid said the woman finally approached the vigilance on November 25 and her complaint was verified and found to be true the next day. “Finally, the trap team was formed to arrest Mehta,” he said.