Jammu, Apr 05: The Jammu and Kashmir Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) on Sunday arrested a junior engineer of the Jammu Power Distribution Corporation Limited (JPDCL) in Katra after catching him red-handed while accepting a bribe of Rs 75,000, officials said.
He said, the accused, had allegedly demanded illegal gratification for replacing an electric meter and reducing the complainant’s monthly electricity bill.
In a statement issued to the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), a spokesperson said J&K Anti Corruption Bureau, registered a case FIR No. 07/2026 U/S 07 of Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 against public servant, namely Anirudh Sharma S/O Sh. Ashwani Kumar Sharma R/O H.No. 583 Mohalla Sultanpura Lane No.1 Janipur Jammu posted as JE in Sub Division JPDCL (PDD) Katra for demanding and accepting illegal gratification from the complainant.
He said, the accused public servant demanded the bribe from the complainant for replacement of electric meter and reducing the monthly electric bill.
“Since, the complainant did not want to pay bribe and approached Anti Corruption Bureau for taking legal action against the accused public servant under law.”
“On receipt of the compliant, a discreet verification was conducted, which corroborated the demand of bribe by the public servant concerned and accordingly, a case FIR No. 07/2026 U/S 07 of Prevention of Corruption, Act, 1988 was registered at P/S ACB Udhampur and investigation was taken-up,” said the spokesperson.
He added, during the course of investigation, a trap team headed by Dy. SP Rank Officer was constituted. The team laid a successful trap and accused public servant was caught red-handed while demanding and accepting bribe amount of ₹75,000 as 1st installment from the complainant in the presence of independent witnesses.
The spokesperson said, the accused was arrested on the spot by the ACB team after following due process of law. The bribe money was also recovered from the possession of accused in presence of independent witnesses associated with the trap team. Moreover, search was also conducted in the house of accused at H.No. 583 Mohalla Sultanpura Lane No.1 Janipur, Jammu in presence of Magistrate. Further investigation of the instant case is going on.
