We all remember the night of November 8, 2016, when the Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the demonetisation of all ?500 and ?1,000 banknotes. It had also announced the issuance of new ?500 and ?2,000 banknotes in exchange for the demonetised banknotes. The main purpose of this move was to abolish the use of black money. However, three years since the decision was made, every other day news of cash raids have come to the fore that highlights the flaws of the decision.
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In yet another incident of cash seizure, the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) has seized Rs 2.44 crore in cash from the residence of a junior engineer of the Rural Development department in Jharkhand's Seraikela-Kharsawan district, a senior ACB official said.
Raids were carried out in the residence of junior engineer, Suresh Prasad Verma, after he was arrested on Thursday while allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 10,000 from a contractor for clearing his outstanding bills, ACB Deputy Superintendent of Police Arvind Kumar Singh said.
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The contractor had lodged the complaint with the ACB, following which the bureau sleuths laid a trap to catch the engineer red-handed, the official said.
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After the interrogation of the engineer, an ACB team conducted search operation in the house of the accused and seized Rs 2.44 crore in cash, 100 gm of gold and land documents, the official added.
This is not the first time case of raids with high-ranking government officials has come up. In July this year, a tehsildar was arrested in connection with a case of bribery after Rs 93.5 lakh in cash and over 400 gm of gold were seized from her house, a senior official of the anti-corruption bureau (ACB) said.
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Sleuths conducted a search at the office and residence of the Tehsildar of Keshampet mandal V Lavanya in neighbouring Ranga Reddy district.
The searches were made after the Kondurgu Village Revenue Officer (VRO) M Antaiah was caught red-handed by the sleuths for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 4 lakh out of the Rs 8 lakh demanded from a complainant on behalf of the Tahsildar to do an official favour, ACB officials said.