By Our Correspondent
Panaji (Goa): The anti corruption branch of the vigilance department is probing the role of Socorro Village Panchayat Secretary into the bribery case that saw deputy sarpanch Maya Keni arrested this evening.
Complainant Mukundraj Govind Mudras had claimed that Keni had asked him to pay bribe of Rs 7,000 to her and she will thereafter ‘give’ (probably the bribe amount) to the Secretary for clearing his matter. “It is this reason that the Secretary is under ACB scanner. We have issued him summons to appear before us for questioning on Wednesday,” said an ACB official.
In a late night development on Monday, Keni was rushed to the hospital minutes after she was caught accepting bribe from the businessman in Sucorro village. She was caught red-handed accepting a bribe of Rs 6,000 from Mundras to waive fine to-be imposed on him for running a Salon without trade license.
The AC raid, following a complaint lodged by Mundras was conducted in the office of the village panchayat last night where the alleged accused had called the former to give her the bribe amount. However, soon after the raid, Keni complained of uneasiness and was shifted to the Goa medical college and hospital (GMCH) where she is currently under medical observation. Her arrest will now be possible only after the doctors declare her fit for discharge.
The complainant, who had recently purchased a space in the village to start a Salon was without trade license after which the panchayat had issued him show cause notice. Mundras then replied to the notice and simultaneously applied for the trade license. The complaint to the ACB stated that despite this, Keni demanded Rs 7,000 bribe apart from official fees of Rs 11,500 for waiving the fine and granting the trade license respectively. The demanded bribe was reduced to Rs 6,000 after which Keni had called Mundras to the panchayat secretary’s office to give her the money. This is when the ACB caught her red handed.
Meanwhile, the ACB is also examining the telephonic conversation between the complainant and the accused, recording of which was submitted by Mudras to the ACB sleuths at the time of lodging the complaint.
