Date:20/03/2004 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2004/03/20/stories/2004032005550500.htm

New Delhi

Tribunal inspector held for graft

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, MARCH 19. An inspector of the Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT), Chandigarh, has been arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation for allegedly demanding and accepting bribe in lieu of issuing a "certificate of sale" to the complainant who had bid successfully for a plot auctioned by the Tribunal.

According to the CBI, the complainant, a doctor from Rewari in Haryana, told the agency that he had bought 1,122 square yards of land with an industrial shed through an open auction. The DRT (Chandigarh) had placed an advertisement in a newspaper for the auction of the plot on January 1. On January 29, he bought the plot for Rs. 36 lakhs in the auction. However, the Recovery Inspector, A.K. Shukla, demanded Rs. 30,000 from the doctor for issuing the "certificate of sale" which he required for taking possession.

The complainant did not agree following which Shukla began calling him up regularly. He used to threaten him that the completion of formalities would be delayed interminably resulting in losses for him.

Earlier this month, when the complainant went to the office of the Recovery Officer-II, DRT (Chandigarh), he was treated rudely and directed to do as the inspector advised him. Subsequently, the complainant contacted Shukla who told him that he would be taking Jan Shatabdi Express from Chandigarh to Delhi on Wednesday and that he should hand him the money outside New Delhi railway station. The complainant informed the CBI which laid a trap outside the station.

Shukla arrived as per plan and the complainant handed him the money. He was arrested when he was counting them. Searches are now under way at the residences of the accused and also the Recovery Officer.