West Bengal Official Arrested for Bribery in North 24 Parganas

North 24 Parganas, November 3 (Daily Kiran) : The Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) of West Bengal Police arrested a state official on Tuesday in New Barrackpur, North 24 Parganas, for accepting a bribe of ₹20,000. The official, associated with the West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (WBSEDCL), allegedly demanded the payment in exchange for providing a new electricity connection and installing a 315 kVA transformer.

The arrest followed a written complaint from a local resident, who claimed that the official requested the bribe to facilitate the installation. Upon receiving the complaint, ACB officials verified the allegations and set up a sting operation. On the agreed date, the complainant met the accused and handed over the money.

ACB officers swiftly intervened, apprehending the official while he was accepting the bribe. The entire amount was recovered from him at the scene.

Following preliminary investigations, a case has been filed against the accused under relevant sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act. Investigators are now looking into whether others were involved in this bribery scheme or if the official was acting on behalf of a larger network.

An ACB spokesperson stated that the arrest was made based on various provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, which was amended in 2018, and the Indian Penal Code (BNS), 2023. This operation came just a day after a suspended sub-assistant engineer from the Raghunathganj municipality in Purulia district was arrested for multiple corruption charges, including misuse of government funds and irregularities related to municipal projects and government land.