Indore (Madhya Pradesh): The Lokayukta, Special Police Establishment, Indore unit, caught two officials from Zone No. 13 of the Indore Municipal Corporation (IMC) on Thursday for demanding and accepting a bribe to process funds under a government welfare scheme.
According to Lokayukta SP Rajesh Sahay, the complainant, Ashish Choudhary, a resident of Limbodi, lodged a complaint on July 17 stating that following his father's death in 2025, the ward in-charge (muster employee) of Zone No. 13, Sandhya Pathrod, and assistant ward in-charge Harbhajan Singh Saluja demanded a bribe of Rs 20,000 to facilitate the sanction of Rs 2,00,000 due to his family under the state government's Sambal Yojana.
The accused demanded 10% of the sanctioned money but later agreed to reduce the demand to Rs 15,000, to be paid in three equal instalments of Rs 5,000 each.
Upon verification of the complaint, a trap team led by Inspector Pratibha Tomar was constituted. The team caught Sandhya Pathrod red-handed while she was accepting the first instalment of Rs 5,000 from the complainant on the street behind DD Garden, near her office in the Bhanwarkuan area.
A case has been registered against both accused under Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption Act and Section 61(2) of the BNS. Further investigation is underway.
