Three persons including a government official, were today taken into custody for allegedly taking bribe by the Anti-Corruption-Branch (ACB), the first arrests related to any complaint made on the newly launched anti-graft helpline in Delhi.
According to ACB, a complaint was lodged by a caller on Delhi government’s 1031 helpline on Thursday, claiming that bribe was being taken at the entry gate of Azadpur Mandi for allowing trucks having valid entry pass to enter.
“The caller was then asked to do a sting after which a team of 15-18 officials of ACB carried out a late night raid at 1:30 AM when close to 20,000 truck queue up to get entry,” an official said.
Following the complaint, ACB verified the details of the complaint and conducted a raid today and arrested three people including a government employee.
“A security in-charge and two contractual staff were arrested who used to take hefty amount from transporters to allow them early entry. Amount varied on the basis of urgency and cost of consignment in the truck,” the official alleged. These were the first arrests in connection with complaints on the helpline, officials said.
The agency has also seized currency notes from their possession. Out of the three arrested, one is a government employee.
According to the government, within 100 hours of its launch, the helpline answered a total of 32,489 telephone calls out of which only 70 were found to be serious and they were forwarded to ACB for investigation.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal launched the helpline at a public gathering at Talkatora stadium on April 5.
The helpline is functioning on a 24×7 basis and will remain open on all days. The calls received so far are now being analysed to segregate frivolous and real complaints.
The government said efforts are being made to ensure that no call made on 1031 number remains unanswered.
