Dhar (Madhya Pradesh): Court of first additional session judge, Dhar sentenced deputy engineer Arun Tripathi, 57 to four-year imprisonment after he was found guilty under Sections 7, 13(1)D and 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act 1988.
Tripathi was an in-charge sub-divisional officer - Mahi Project Labriya posted in Sardarpur tehsil of Dhar district.
Dhar district media cell in-charge Archana Dangi informed that complainant Dharmendra Sharma, a government contractor who owns a construction company in Indore in his complaint claimed that he had taken the work of construction of Phulkipara Bridge under the Mahi Dam project on a tender basis issued in February 2016. About 70 per cent work was completed and payment of Rs 1.27 crore was made by Water Resources Department Jhabua. The remaining payment of Rs 30 lakh has been deposited into the company bank account on June 27, 2017.
On June 30, Dharmendra Sharma was at the site of Phulkipara Bridge construction work at around 2.30 pm and, at the same time, the SDO in-charge Arun Tripathi met him and asked him to pay three per cent of the remaining amount of Rs 30 lakh.
Arun Tripathi repeatedly threatened to issue notices to engineer Navneet Pandey regarding the construction material and work as Sharma refused to bribe him.
Fed-up with this attitude, Sharma lodged his complaint with Indore Lokayukta Superintendent on July 12, 2017.
After which, on July 13, Lokayukta sleuth trapped Arun Tripathi accepting a bribe of Rs 50,000 from the complainant Dharmendra Sharma at his official residence.
After investigation, the charge sheet was presented before the court for trial and based on the evidence, the court sentenced Tripathi to four-year imprisonment.
