Civic official, 2 others held in bribe case

 A municipal officer has been arrested in Rajasthan's Kota district while allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 1 lakh, police said on Thursday. The anti-corruption bureau later also arrested two others, including Sourabh Sharma, the son of the Ramganj Mandi municipality board chairman, for alleged involvement in the bribery case, the police said.

Municipality executive officer Pankaj Kumar Mangal (37) demanded Rs 4 lakh for sanctioning approval for construction work in the town, according to a complaint by a resident of the town on July 16, Kota (Rural) inspector Vasudev Singh said.

The complainant had paid Rs 1.50 lakh to Mangal, following which he did sanction the approval for construction, but later mounted pressure to pay the remaining amount. He eventually got the construction site marked 'red' and stopped the work over non-payment of the remaining bribe money,

On the verification of the complaint, a trap was laid on Wednesday night and Mangal was arrested from his residence while accepting a bribe of Rs 1 lakh, the officer said.

One of Mangal's companions, Bhawani Singh, attempted to burn the colour-coated bribe currency, but the ACB personnel nabbed him before he could burn the currency, the inspector said.

Singh and Sharma were also arrested, the officer said, adding that an investigation was on.