ACB Nabs Sarpanch for Accepting ₹9,000 as Bribe, Bribery in Property Dispute

SRINAGAR, Aug 1: The Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) has arrested a Sarpanch namely Muzaffar Ahmad Rather in Manigam-A for accepting a bribe of ₹9,000.

A complainant approached PS ACB Srinagar, with a written complaint against a public servant; Muzaffar Ahmad Rather, Sarpanch Manigam-A, alleging a demand of bribe for the settlement of a property dispute between the complainant and his sister. The two siblings had some disputes over the distribution of property. The Sister of the complainant approached the accused Sarpanch for settlement. The complainant alleged that Sarpanch has repeatedly been demanding bribes from him for settlement of the issue. Initially, an amount of ₹20,000 was demanded by the Sarpanch, however, after negotiations, he agreed to accept an amount of ₹9,000 from the complainant. The complainant did not want to pay the bribe and instead approached Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) Srinagar for taking legal action against the accused public servant as provided under the law.

On receipt of the complaint, a Case FIR No. 13/2023 U/S 7 PC Act 1988 was registered with PS ACB Srinagar and an investigation taken up.

During the course of the investigation, a trap team was constituted by this Bureau, which laid a successful trap and caught the accused public servant red-handed while demanding and accepting a bribe amount of ₹9,000 from the complainant. The money was recovered from the accused on the spot. The accused has been identified as Muzaffar Ahmad Rather S/O Wali Mohd Rather R/O Manigam, Sarpanch Manigam-A.

Further investigation into the case is going on.