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

ACB catches RFO and accomplice accepting bribe from contractor in Amreli district, Gujarat, for releasing security deposit.

The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) said on Sunday (October 27, 2024) that it had caught a range forest officer (RFO) and another person for allegedly taking a ₹2 lakh bribe from a contractor in Gujarat's Amreli district.

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

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

Despite being paid ₹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 ₹2 lakh as a bribe on Saturday (October 26, 2024) , the release said.