Another cop arrested in MP's Seoni district; caught red-handed while taking bribe

Seoni, Oct 16 (PTI) A police head constable was arrested while allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 75,000 in Seoni district of Madhya Pradesh on Thursday, officials said.

The arrest of constable Manish Patwa (49) came a day after another constable was arrested in the district in a different case related to the alleged loot of hawala cash by police personnel.

Superintendent of Police Sunil Kumar Mehta told PTI that Patwa, attached to Kevalari police station, was immediately suspended.

The constable was caught while allegedly taking Rs 75,000 from a complainant in the police station premises, Superintendent of Police (Lokayukta-Jabalpur) Anjoolata Patle told PTI.

He had earlier taken Rs 25,000 as the first instalment of the total Rs 5 lakh he had sought from complainant Nitin Patkar, a civil contractor.

The bribe was allegedly sought for registering an FIR against another contractor accused of cheating and poor quality work in a Rs 35-lakh concrete road project.

A case was registered against Patwa under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, Patle said.

As instructed by Director General (Lokayukta) Yogesh Deshmukh, the anti-corruption agency has been intensifying action against graft cases across the state, the official added.

The Lokayukta team is also probing whether other persons were involved in this case, he said.

A day before, head constable Rajesh Janghela became the 11th person to be arrested in a case where a police patrol team intercepted a car carrying Rs 2.96 crore in hawala cash at Siladehi bypass in Seoni district, but instead of registering a case, decided to divide the money among themselves after letting the car's occupants go. PTI COR LAL KRK