Mandsaur (Madhya Pradesh): The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) team arrested Mandsaur agricultural product market accountant Harish Kumar Vashishtha while accepting a bribe of Rs 20,000.
Vashishtha was accused of demanding a bribe of Rs 78,000 for releasing a contractor's pending payment spanning six months. The EOW team, led by DSP Amit Kumar Batti, intercepted the first instalment of Rs 20,000 on Wednesday.
The alleged bribery scenario unfolded in the context of a contract awarded to Valmiki Construction, owned by Paras Lal Rathore, for cleaning the vegetable market in June 2023.
In exchange for releasing a due amount of Rs 2 lakh, Vashishtha supposedly insisted on a bribe of Rs 78,000. The contractor's son, Ravi Rathore, brought this matter to the attention of the Economic Offences Wing in Ujjain, leading to the arrest of the accused.
Ravi disclosed that Vashishtha had withheld the contractor's payment of approximately Rs 2 lakh for six months, demanding a monthly bribe of Rs 20,000. Faced with the accumulation of Rs 78, 000, Rathore reported the incident to the Ujjain branch of the EOW, resulting in the arrest of the accused during the attempted bribe transaction.
