Chhattisgarh: Deputy collector who shared hot seat with Amitabh Bachhan in KBC show in 2017 caught demanding bribe in viral video

A deputy collector rank officer of Chhattisgarh who shared a hot seat in Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC) with host Bollywood star Amitabh Bachchan was spotted demanding bribes to issue ration cards.

Deputy Collector, Anuradha Agarwal participated in KBC season 9 in 2017. Despite she lost her mother, and was in grief, instead of losing hope the officer won Rs 12.5 lakh. Amid Covid outbreak, the officer announced donating 1 day of her salary per month till her retirement to help the poor and Covid infected.

Such a dynamic and philanthropic officer was caught in a viral video demanding a bribe. The deputy-collector of Mungeli district, Anuradha Agarwal , who was then Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Janpad Panchayat Lormi was seen demanding bribes in the clip shared by an elected Congress leader.

In the video, the administration is heard saying - “leave something(amount) because we have to manage several people and while doing this we face several types of problems”.

The video was claimed to be three two four months old.

Pradesh Mahila Congress Secretary and Deputy -chairman, Lormi Janpad Khusbu Vaishnav who leaked the video on the internet demanded strict action against the lady officer.

Khushbu claimed that she approached the Janpad CEO to issue ration cards for 18 people, and the CEO demanded her money. The officer keep pressing demand for hush money when she submitted all the necessary papers and documents required to issue ration cards, the Congress leader alleged.

Finally, she secretly filmed the whole conversation and circulated it on social media.

Khushbu told the media that she was aware that the administrative officer demanded bribes from the public who approached her for work. The officer did not said me directly how much she needed but indicated that she will charge Rs 2000 per card, the Congress leader alleged.

The alleged deputy collector who is on maternity leave said, the Janpad leader pressured me to execute illegal work. When she resisted, to defame her the Congress leader intentionally released edited video of her, the officer said.

Meanwhile, after the clip went viral, pressure to initiate strict action against the alleged corrupt officer increased. District Collector Mungeli, Gaurav Singh said, the action will be initiated after proper investigation.

It should be noted that FPJ didn’t claim any authenticity related to the video clip.