Gurugram vigilance team arrests ex-Pataudi SDM over corruption charges

A vigilance bureau team from Gurugram on Wednesday arrested the officer on special duty of the Hisar divisional commissioner on bribery charges, officials said Thursday.

Officials of the vigilance bureau said Rajesh Prajapati, a 2011 batch Haryana civil services officer has also served as a sub-divisional magistrate in Pataudi for around one-and-a-half years (2019-2020) during which the alleged offence occurred. He was transferred out in August 2020 .

They said that he was called for quizzing in Gurugram on Wednesday and was arrested after the allegations against him were found true on the basis of preliminary investigation. An FIR against Prajapati was registered under relevant sections of The Prevention of Corruption Act and the Indian Penal Code, with the vigilance police station in Gurugram on Wednesday. He was produced before a city court on Thursday and was taken on one-day remand for interrogation.

“A Faridabad man had complained to deputy commissioner of Gurugram in August 2020 alleging that Prajapati took an ₹18 lakh bribe to deliver a favourable order in an appeal over the leasing of government land,” an official of the vigilance bureau said, adding Prajapati did not deliver a favourable order though.

“The man had leased a 0.57 acre government plot in Khawaspur village for 99 years in 2016,” a senior vigilance official said, requesting anonymity.

They said the complainant got the lease cancelled in 2018 after which the revenue department fined him for ₹12.5 crore.

“He filed an appeal against the order before the SDM court which was presided over by Prajapati during his tenure. He alleged that Prajapati demanded a bribe of ₹55 lakh from the appellant to deliver a favourable order,” he said.

The complainant alleged that he paid ₹18 lakh of the ₹55 lakh bribe.

“The complainant submitted some call recordings as proof of demand and payment of bribe. They are one of the most crucial parts of evidence in the case,” the vigilance official said.

He added the SDM didn’t give the judgement in the complainant’s favour and rejected his appeal in February 2020.

The official said that the deputy commissioner of Gurugram referred the complaint to the Haryana government, which was further remanded to the state vigilance bureau for a thorough inquiry and necessary action. However, when the cases were transferred could not be ascertained immediately.