FIR against two employees of UP's Social Welfare Department for demanding bribe

Ballia (UP), Aug 2 (PTI) A supervisor and another staffer of Uttar Pradesh's Social Welfare Department were booked on Friday for allegedly demanding a bribe from a woman to include her name in the list of beneficiaries under the widow pension scheme, officials said.

Ballia District Magistrate DM Praveen Kumar Lakshkar said that based on a complaint by Social Welfare Officer Deepak Srivastava an FIR was registered under the Prevention of Corruption Act against the supervisor Vinod Kumar Verma and another staffer Randhir Singh.

The action was taken after Neha Singh, a resident of Tagharoli village, complained that the accused had demanded bribes from her to get her name included in the beneficiary list. Investigation into the complaint by Srivastava revealed that Randhir Singh initially demanded Rs 1,000 and then Rs 9,000 from the woman as a bribe over the phone, the district magistrate said.

During questioning, Randhir Singh gave a written statement that he demanded the money on the instruction of Vinod Sharma, the Ballia DM said.

Following this, an FIR was registered against the two accused, he added. PTI COR CDN NSD NSD