CBI books MCD clerk for demanding bribe from retired colleague's wife

New Delhi, April 18 (IANS) A clerk working in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi was booked by the CBI for demanding Rs 50,000 bribe from an ailing retired colleague’s family for releasing his post-retirement benefits running into lakhs of rupees, an official said on Friday.

Ram Lalit Bhandari, posted at MCD’s Gulmohar Park office in south Delhi, was slapped with an FIR under corruption provisions on the complaint of Santosh Devi, the wife of retired civic agency employee Gopal Singh.

Bhandari had forced Santosh Devi to shell out Rs 15,000 as the first instalment of the bribe and was harassing her on the phone to deliver the remaining amount, said the complainant.

Santosh Devi, a resident of Sun Light Colony, Hari Nagar, Ashram, said that her husband retired as a guard from an MCD office in Greater Kailash on December 31, 2024, but despite attempts over the past three months, his post-retirement benefits were not released.

In her complaint, dated April 16, she said that Bhandari was repeatedly calling her on her mobile phone to demand the bribe.

“My husband has been bedridden for two years,” she stated, adding, “Bhandari said that he would not forward the file for release of his post-retirement benefits unless she paid him Rs 50,000.”

She told the CBI that she paid Rs 15,000 bribe to Bhandari earlier this month and requested him to help her as she did not have more money, but he insisted on collecting Rs 50,000.

The complaint given by the retired MCD employee’s wife was received in the CBI, Anti-Corruption Branch, on Thursday and marked to an inspector for verification.

The CBI order for registration of FIR against Bhandari said, “The complaint and subsequent verification report prima facie disclose commission of offence punishable under Section 7 of Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (as amended in 2018) on the part of Ram Lalit Bhandari.”

A regular case under Section 7 of the PC Act has been registered against Ram Lalit Bhandari and entrusted to an inspector for investigation, said the order.

--IANS

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