Retd official pays Rs 16 lakhs for a false charge
While a number of bureaucrats of the Haryana Civil Services (HCS) have been in the dock recently for money laundering and other unethical activities, one retired civil servant has ended up being fleeced thoroughly.
In a complaint he posted on our portal a week ago, the retired official from Ambala (Haryana) describes how a false complaint was filed against him by a Land and Revenue (L & R) department officer.
Along with three others, the complainant was taken into custody by the police based on the complaint. The reason for the Revenue officer’s ire against him was that he refused to pay the bribe demanded by the revenue department during a transaction at the office.
The respondent was beaten by the police in jail. When he informed them that he held a top post in the HCS earlier, the cops demanded a bribe of Rs four lakhs to release each of them. The respondent paid the sum.
A day later, he got a call stating that the Superintendent came to know of the case and Rs Five lakhs had to be paid to him. This demand too was met.
Four days later, he got another call from the L & R department goading him to pay a big amount if the news had to be kept away from the media. After ten days of negotiations, he ended up paying Rs Seven lakhs.
The total bribe amount he paid finally totalled Rs 16 lakhs. “I lost 80% of my life’s savings,” he writes at http://ipaidabribe.com/bribe-central/i-lost-80-my-lifes-earnings
One can only imagine how traumatised, powerless and bitter a senior citizen might feel under such circumstances.
By Juwairia Mekhri