Mumbai: Assistant labour commissioner arrested by CBI in graft case

Mumbai: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday nabbed assistant labour commissioner (Central), Vinay Kumar Jaiswal, for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 30,000 from two retired employees of a public sector undertaking (PSU). He was produced before the court, which remanded him to CBI custody till March 18.

According to the CBI, a written complaint was received on Monday from two persons. The complaint said that the complainants retired from Western Coalfields Limited (WCL) in July 2022 and their payment towards the gratuity amount could not be disbursed as they had not vacated the government-allotted houses at the time of retirement.

“The WCL referred the matter to the Labour Commissioner, Nagpur and deposited their gratuity amount with the Assistant Labour Commissioner. Later on, the complainants vacated their respective houses and obtained NOC from WCL. Accordingly, the WCL intimated the Labour Commissioner. Having considered the vacation of the houses, Jaiswal decided to release their gratuity amounts. However, when they met Jaiswal to obtain the gratuity cheque, he demanded a bribe of Rs30,000 each for issuing cheques. Jaiswal also demanded a bribe from one of the complainants telephonically on Sunday and on negotiation, he reduced the amount to Rs15,000 each and directed to transfer through mobile banking,” the agency sources claimed.

The allegations of the complaint had been verified in presence of witnesses. The verification proceedings disclosed the demand for undue advantage.

A case was then registered against Jaiswal and he had been booked under section 7 (public servant taking gratification other than legal remuneration in respect of an official act) of The Prevention of Corruption Act.