New Delhi, May 5 (IANS) The CBI booked an MCD junior engineer and his aide for demanding a bribe of Rs 2 lakh from a contractor constructing a building in the Walled City to overlook alleged illegal construction in the premises, an official said on Tuesday.

Junior engineer Navdeep Khatri and beldar Lokesh were booked on the complaint of Aziz Ahmed, who is constructing a building in the G.B. Road area for an elderly property owner, the CBI said.

In a written complaint given to the CBI on April 30, the builder alleged that beldar Lokesh visited the construction site and demanded Rs 2 lakh bribe, threatening that non-payment would result in demolition of the structure and sealing of the premises.

The investigation agency verified the complaint against the MCD JE and beldar posted at the City S.P. zone. The owner of the property, Matloob Hussain, had also given permission to the builder to seek a CBI inquiry against the two MCD employees.

Hussain, in his consent letter allowing the builder to lodge the complaint, said the property in Katra Gafoor Baksh, Mohalla Nihariyan, G.B. Road, is being built according to the building bye-laws, and despite this, the MCD JE and the beldar were harassing him and Aziz Ahmed to give a bribe of Rs 2 lakh.

While verifying the builder’s complaint, a CBI investigator prepared a character antecedent report of the MCD employee and the beldar that “established that the general reputation of suspect officers is suspicious, and they indulged in corrupt practices and take bribes for official works”.

“In the view of the above facts and circumstances, it is recommended that a regular case be registered against Navdeep Khatri, J.E, MCD office, City S.P. Zone, Kashmere Gate, and Lokesh, Beldar (Pvt.) MCD office, City S.P. Zone, Kashmere Gate, under section 61(2) BNS and 7 of Prevention of Corruption Act-1988 (as amended in 2018),” said the complaint verification report.

Taking note of the report, CBI’s Superintendent of Police Ashok Mishra oversaw the registration of FIR (RC0032026A0029) on Monday and handed over the investigation to an inspector, said the federal agency.

–IANS

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