Jhansi: The anti-corruption team from Jhansi caught a lekhpal and his private assistant at his official residence in the Talbehat area of Lalitpur district on Monday afternoon while accepting a bribe of Rs 5,000 from a farmer for filing a report for a change of land use.The accused, Deepesh Kumar Singh, who originally belonged to village Rura Sirsa in Jalaun district, was serving as a lekhpal in Talbehat tehsil.The victim, Jagannath Sahu of village Bijrotha under Talbehat tehsil, moved an application to the SDM on February 19 seeking a change of land use of his farmland for commercial purposes. The application was marked to the lekhpal concerned Deepesh, for his report. Deepesh asked for a bribe of Rs 5,000, after which the victim approached the anti-corruption department.The officials sent a team that laid a trap. Jagannath went to Deepesh’s house on Monday, where his assistant Satyam Sahu, who solicited customers on behalf of Deepesh, was also present.As soon as the chemically-treated money was handed over to the accused, who then gave it to Satyam for counting, the team members led by inspector Jagdish Yadav caught both of them red-handed.According to Yadav, Deepesh was booked under section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, while Satyam was booked under section 12 of the same Act at the Talbehat police station. Both will be produced in the anti-corruption court in Jhansi.
