The Punjab Vigilance Bureau (VB) during its ongoing drive against corruption in the state, on Friday, arrested a private homeopathic doctor, Dr. Arvind Kumar, a resident of Raiya, in Amritsar district, while he was accepting a bribe of Rs 3.50 lakh in Tarn Taran.
Disclosing this here today an official spokesperson of the state VB said the arrest was made following a complaint filed by Ashok Kumar, a resident of Patran town in Patiala district. According to the complaint, Dr. Arvind Kumar had initially demanded a bribe of Rs 5 lakh on behalf of Dr. Sumit Singh, currently serving as Senior Medical Officer (SMO) at Manawala, Amritsar.
The bribe was allegedly meant to influence Dr. Sumit Singh's testimony in favor of the complainant in an ongoing court case. The amount was later negotiated down to Rs 3.50 lakh. He further informed that the case pertains to a matter registered against Ashok Kumar and others under the PNDT Act and NDPS Act at Patran police station, based on a complaint by Rajesh Kumar, SMO. Dr. Sumit Singh is a key witness in this case.
The spokesperson added that the after preliminary verification of the complaint, the VB team laid a trap at Tarn Taran where Dr. Arvind Kumar was present at the office of "Sarhadi Lok Sewa Samiti," a national-level committee working for the welfare of border area residents, particularly in dowry cases and women's empowerment.
The accused was caught red-handed while accepting the bribe of Rs 3.50 lakh from the complainant in the presence of two official witnesses. Audio recordings submitted as evidence corroborated the bribe demand, leading to the arrest.
In this regard a case under the Prevention of Corruption Act has been registered against Dr. Arvind Kumar at Flying Squad-1, VB police station Punjab at Mohali. The accused would be produced in the competent court tomorrow.
He stated that further investigation is ongoing, and the role of Dr. Sumit Singh and any other individuals involved will be thoroughly examined.