Deoghar: In a significant anti-corruption operation, the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) on Friday arrested two employees of the District Land Acquisition Office in Deoghar, Jharkhand, for allegedly accepting a bribe linked to compensation payments under a ring road project.
The accused have been identified as Niranjan Kumar, a senior clerk, and Nunudew Yadav, an office attendant. Officials said the two had allegedly demanded a five per cent commission from a beneficiary to process and release compensation for land acquired for the Deoghar Ring Road Project.
The arrests were made after the ACB acted on a complaint from a beneficiary who claimed his compensation payment was being deliberately delayed and that he was being pressured to pay a bribe to get the money released.
After verifying the allegations, the ACB set up a trap and caught the two employees red-handed while accepting the bribe, officials said. The money involved in the transaction was also recovered during the operation.
Following the raid, both accused were taken into custody and later shifted to Dumka for further interrogation and legal proceedings.
Large-scale land acquisition is currently underway in Deoghar for the ring road project, under which farmers and landowners are entitled to compensation for their acquired land. The incident has raised concerns about transparency in the compensation process.
Officials said further investigation into the case is underway and legal action will proceed as per the law.
By Shekhar Suman