CBI books RPF inspector for demanding bribe from UP farmer

Lucknow, June 30 (IANS) A Railway Protection Force (RPF) inspector was booked by the CBI for demanding a bribe of Rs 60,000 from an Uttar Pradesh farmer who was involved in a freak accident in which a railway crossing’s barrier collapsed on his tractor trolley, an official said on Monday.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) booked Inspector G.S. Gautam on the complaint of Dhanraj Verma, a resident of Maharajgang in Uttar Pradesh’s Ayodhya district.

The federal probe agency booked Gautam and unknown others on June 26 under charges of criminal conspiracy and corruption involving a public servant accepting or obtaining any gratification.

The FIR said, “It has been alleged in the complaint that G.S. Gautam has threatened to register a case against him and slap false charges. Gautam demanded a bribe of Rs 60,000 from the complainant in lieu of settling the matter and for non-forfeiture of the tractor-trolley of the complainant.”

The bribe was demanded in the backdrop of the incident on June 23, around 11.30 a.m. at railway crossing number 96 in Akbarpur.

The complainant said that on the day of the incident, he was crossing the barrier when its bar fell on his tractor. “I drove back home after the situation normalised after the incident,” said Verma.

The tractor owner said, in his complaint to CBI, that after some time, Inspector Gautam and some of his colleagues came to his home and threatened to file a case against him.

“The inspector offered to reduce the gravity of my offence if I gave him a bribe of Rs 60,000,” he said, adding that the RPF Inspector gave him two days to arrange the bribe money.

The complainant alleged that on June 25, the inspector again came to his home and threatened to slap serious charges and seize his tractor trolley if the bribe was not paid.

Verma was not keen on paying the bribe, so he approached the CBI and complained against Gautam.

On receiving Verma’s complaint, CBI, ACB, Lucknow, verified it and prepared a report which said, “The above mentioned facts and discreet verification prima facie disclose commission of offence punishable under section 61(2) of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 and Section 7 of Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (as amended in 2018) on the part of G. S. Gautam, Inspector, RPF, Akbarpur, UP, and unknown others.”

--IANS

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