The Punjab Vigilance Bureau (VB), during its ongoing drive against corruption, has unearthed a nexus operating in the Town Planning branch of the Municipal Corporation (MC) Amritsar involving the issuance of No Objection Certificates (NOCs) and approval of building plans. The Bureau has arrested RTI activist Suresh Kumar Sharma, a resident of Chherta, in Amritsar, who was acting as an agent for MTP officials by filing RTI applications against applicants to extort money and then withdrawing them in connivance with MC officials.
Disclosing this here today, an official spokesperson of the VB said the complainant informed that he had constructed a shop at Railway Link Road, Amritsar, after demolishing an existing structure and had obtained approval for one floor from the MTP branch of MC Amritsar. For additional construction, he approached the MTP officials, who advised him to submit a revised plan. However, the plan was rejected twice by ATP Parminder Singh on the pretext that said Suresh Kumar Sharma had filed RTI applications against his project under different names. The ATP further asked the complainant to contact Sharma if he wanted his file cleared.
The complainant further stated that when he contacted Sharma, the latter initially demanded Rs 7 lakh to withdraw the complaints, but the amount was finally settled at Rs 4 lakh after persuasion.
The spokesperson added that following preliminary verification of the complaint, a VB team laid a trap and caught the accused red-handed while accepting Rs 4 lakh as bribe in the presence of two official witnesses. A corruption case has been registered against the accused at the VB Police Station, Amritsar Range. The accused would be produced before the competent court tomorrow.
The VB has appealed to the public that if anyone wishes to provide further information regarding blackmailing by the accused Suresh Kumar, they may approach the Bureau and identity of such informers would be kept strictly confidential.