Gurgaon: The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) has registered an FIR against two officials of the labour department in the city under the Prevention of Corruption Act after being accused of demanding a bribe of Rs 5,000 and accepting Rs 3,500 in cash for approving a business registration application.According to ACB, A Quarian Education Abroad — a private company — applied five times through the official labour department portal for registration of a commercial establishment. Each application was allegedly rejected by labour inspector Manoj Kumar without valid justification. “Despite submitting all required documents and paying the full govt fee, the application was repeatedly turned down, with arbitrary objections raised and no time provided to address them,” said Naveen Kumar, the complainant, in his complaint filed in Dec 2023.The complaint said that on Sep 21, 2023, Naveen visited the Labour Department in Gurgaon to ask why the applications were repeatedly rejected. Manoj Kumar claimed the govt fee might have been underpaid. The complainant countered that the full govt fee was paid, after which Manoj asked him to reapply and visit him.A fresh application was made online on the same day, and for approval, Manoj Kumar and clerk Ankit Kumar demanded a bribe of Rs 5,000 and took Rs 3,500 on Sep 22, 2023. Naveen recorded this conversation on his phone and submitted it to the officials. The recordings, translated and transcribed over three pages, confirmed the bribe amount and details of the transaction.During the investigation, a voice sample was obtained and sent to the forensic lab in Madhuban, and it matched the sample of the accused.A report was sent to ADG ACB in April 2025 recommending the registration of an FIR against the accused. Last week, an FIR was registered against the labour inspector and the clerk, posted in the office of assistant labour commissioner, circle-16, Gurgaon, under sections 7, 7(A), and 13(1)(b) of the PC Act.
