MP nodal officer caught taking bribe of Rs 20,000

The Lokayukta police on Tuesday

caught a Madhya Pradesh government official while allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 20,000 from an employee of a private hospital here for settling a complaint regarding a pre-natal gender screening case, an official said.

The accused was identified as Satish Joshi, a nodal officer appointed under the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act, he said.

Lokayuktas Deputy Superintendent of Police (DySP) Pravin Singh Baghel said on a complaint of private hospitals employee Sunil Shukla, Joshi was caught while accepting a bribe of Rs 20,000 from the former in the premises of the district collectors office here.

 

The office of the accused is located in the same premises.

Baghel said Joshi had demanded the bribe after telling Shukla that a complaint had been received against his hospital that a pre-natal sex determination examination was conducted there with the help of a female doctor.

The nodal officer sought the bribe in exchange for settling the complaint, he said.

Shukla approached the Lokayukta police, which laid a trap and caught Joshi, Baghel said.

The DySP said in a separate case, a court munshi (clerk), Jai Singh Damor, posted in Sardarpur town of Dhar district, was caught while allegedly taking a bribe of Rs 10,000 from a murder accused, Lalu Dabar, on Tuesday.

Baghel said the murder accused was out on bail since the past one year.

Damor had accepted the bribe on behalf of a government lawyer posted in the Sardarpur court, Digvijay Singh Rathore, the Lokayukta DySP said.

According to Dabar, Rathore had sought the bribe for helping in the trial pending against him, he said.

Dabar lodged a complaint with the Lokayukta police which laid a trap and caught Damor taking the bribe amount near the Sardarpur court building, Baghel said.

He said detailed investigations are underway in both the cases of bribery under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

No arrest has been made till now, Baghel added.