The Vigilance and Anti-Corruption sleuths on Friday arrested another senior Assam government official here for taking a bribe of Rs 20,000, officials said.

Guwahati, July 8, 2022: The Vigilance and Anti-Corruption sleuths on Friday arrested another senior Assam government official here for taking a bribe of Rs 20,000, officials said.

Shashindra Nath Baishya, Controller of Assam Legal Metrology Service, was arrested following a trap for accepting a bribe of Rs 20,000 for issuing of a license from the complainant who wanted to open a shop for selling the weights and measures equipment.

Baishya had earlier demanded Rs 25,000 as bribe for issuing the license from the complainant who was unwilling to pay the bribe and approached the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Directorate for taking necessary legal action against the senior official.

“Baishya was caught red handed in his office chamber soon after he accepted the demanded bribe of Rs 20,000 from the complainant. On further search, an additional amount of Rs 3,23,850 has also been recovered from his office chamber by the anti-Corruption team,” the official said.

Baishya is the fourth senior Assam government official to be caught red handed while accepting bribes since May 20.

On May 20, Vigilance and Anti-Corruption officials arrested Executive Engineer Akbar Ali and Head Assistant of Irrigation Department Jagadish Rabha, in Goalpara for taking a bribe of Rs 50,000.

Ali and Rabha had demanded Rs 80,000 as bribe from the complainant for allotting him work worth Rs 10 lakh for flood damage repairing work.

On June 15, Madan Singha, senior accountant officer in the Cachar district treasury office in Silchar was caught red-handed while receiving a bribe of Rs 10,000 in a trap laid by the sleuth.

Singha demanded the bribe to process the commutation loan of the complainant, who is a retired public servant.