ACB halts Excise dept inspector, tout for taking bribe

The Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) has arrested an inspector of the excise department and a tout for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 50,000 in Rajasthan's Kota district, officials said on Friday.

The inspector has been identified as Virendra Singh (46), a resident of Tusari village in Alwar district. He was posted as excise inspector in Jhalawar district.

He along with the tout Ram Singh Choudhary (30) were arrested from a bus stand in Jhalrapatan town on Thursday evening, they said.

They were arrested after the tout accepted the bribe of Rs 50,000 from the complainant, who is a wine contractor and runs five licensed liquor shops in Jhalawar district, ASP, ACB (Rural), Kota, Prerna Shekhawat said.

Virendra had demanded a monthly amount of Rs 10,000 for each of the five wine shops, totalling Rs 50,000 for allowing the shops to run without any regulatory intervention from the department, Shekhawat said.

The contractor approached the ACB on November 4 and lodged a complaint following which verification was carried out.

A search operation at the excise inspector's residences in Kota and Alwar is presently underway, the ASP said.

Investigations revealed the excise inspector used to collect monthly bribe through Ram Singh.

Both the two accused will be produced before an ACB court in Kota later on Friday, Shekhawat added.