MP: Labour officer caught taking Rs 50,000 bribe in Mandla district

An official from the labour department has been arrested for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 50,000 from a man for not taking action against him under labour laws in Madhya Pradesh’s Mandle district, police said on Saturday.

The Economic Offence Wing (EOW) of the state police caught labour officer Jitendra Meshram while accepting the bribe amount late on Friday evening, the EOW’s deputy superintendent of police (DSP) Manjit Singh said.

The accused official had conducted a probe into labourers working for the complainant Tanuj Lohan, a native of Haryana who has been engaged in agricultural work since 2007 in Singharpur village, he said. Meshram allegedly sought a bribe by threatening to impose a fine and take legal action against the complainant, the DSP said.

The complainant had given Rs 50,000 to Meshram on January 21, but the official sought more money, prompting Lohan to lodge a complaint with the EOW, he said. A trap was laid and Meshram was caught accepting Rs 50,000 at a bus stop in Devangan Tola village of Mandla on Friday evening, the official added.