Senior govt officials arrested in Assam while taking bribe

Lakhimpur, Assam: Two senior forest officials have been arrested by Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) for allegedly accepting a bribe in Assam''s Lakhimpur district on Monday, Lakhimpur police said. Along with the senior officials, an office assistant has also been nabbed. These officials were accepting money from a timber merchant. 

Lakhimpur Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Jadav Chandra Nath, Assistant Conservator of Forest (ACF) Jasimuddin Ahmed and office assistant Pranab Dutta of Harmoti Forest range were nabbed when they were accepting money from a person whose timber-laden tractor was seized during the lockdown.

The forest officials had initially demanded Rs 1.05 lakh from the truck owner Md Zamiruddin, but later increased it to Rs 1.85 lakh for the release of the seized vehicle, police said. The owner informed the anti-corruption agency and a trap was laid to nab the three persons when they were accepting an advance of Rs 50,000 at the range office, police said.

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