A telephonic conversation with a contractor for bribe landed two officers of the Andaman Lakshadweep Harbour Works (ALHW) under Union Shipping Ministry into the CBI trap in Portblair.
The two officials—one an assistant engineering and the other a junior engineer—had held up a road repairing work in Portblair, demanding Rs 23,000 each as bribe from a government contractor for letting him start the job.
On receiving a complaint from the contractor Neeraj Kumar Tiwari in this regard, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) laid a trap and recorded the two officials' telephonic conversation with the complainant.
During their conversation with the contractor recorded in front of independent witnesses, according to the CBI, the two officials demanded Tiwari that he must hand over the amount of bribe to them in order to get permission to start the road repairing work.
The CBI sleuths subsequently registered an FIR against the assistant engineer and the junior engineer— identified as P Prashanth and KS Raja—under the prevention of corruption Act and arrested them in connection with the case on Tuesday.
The arrest of the two officials exposed the rot prevailing in the ALHW in Portblair.
In his complaint, Tiwari, who works as a government contractor for various departments in Portblair, claimed that he was being harassed by the ALHW officials since 2016. His two applications for the award of a contract through an open tender was rejected by the officials as he refused to pay any bribe.
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