Express News Service
CHANDIGARH: An Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Dharmender Singh of the Haryana cadre was arrested by the state police from Gurugram late on Monday night for allegedly taking a bribe of Rs 1.11 crore in lieu of granting permission for the construction of a commercial building in Sonipat last year when he was posted as the municipal commissioner there. Singh is, at present, posted as Resident Commissioner in Haryana Bhawan at Delhi.
Singh was arrested in a joint operation by Special Investigation Team (SIT) and Faridabad Police. He had allegedly taken a bribe of Rs 1.11 crore from a contractor, and had also illegally increased the amount of a tender from Rs 55 crore to Rs 87 crore.
A case was registered at Kotwali police station in Faridabad last year under various sections of the IPC, including 420 and 120B and the Corruption Act, on the complaint by Lalit Mittal, a resident of Ranjit Nagar, New Delhi. He alleged that Pankaj Garg, R B Sharma and J K Bhatia together took a bribe of Rs 1.11 crore from him on the pretext of getting him a government tender in the Sonipat municipal corporation.
Sources said that the three men had told Mittal that the bribe amount had been distributed among higher officials. But Mittal did not get any government contract. During the investigation, it came to light that Singh had made irregularities in the construction of a building in Sonipat while he was the municipal corporation commissioner. He had also increased a tender amount of Rs 52 crore to Rs 87 crore.
Sube Singh, spokesperson of Faridabad Police said, “The IAS officer Dharmender Singh has been arrested in a corruption case. He was also posted in Faridabad during the coronavirus pandemic period. He was produced in the local court on Tuesday and remanded to four-day police custody.’’
Meanwhile, in another development, a senior IAS officer D Suresh has sought police protection for his family as he alleged that the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) is harassing him and his family.
