CM Khandu ‘bribed’ on first day in office

For Dorjee Khandu, who took over as the new chief minister of Arunachal Pradesh, the first day in office was rather interesting as well as shocking:

For Dorjee Khandu, who took over as the new chief minister of Arunachal Pradesh, the first day in office was rather interesting as well as shocking: the chief engineer of the state Public Works Department reportedly offered him a bribe of Rs 5 lakh in cash for urgently clearing some files of the department.

It was Tuesday, when within hours of occupying the chief minister’s chair, Khandu was approached by T Gongo, who wanted him to urgently sign some files because payments were pending due to the political crisis that apparently affected the frontier state’s closing of the financial year on March 31.

“The chief minister initially told the chief engineer that he was not in a position to sign or clear any file because the other ministers were yet to be selected and sworn in. The chief engineer however insisted that the files were already approved by the PWD Minister before the chief minister was replaced, and just needed the CM’s signature,” an official in the chief minister’s office told The Indian Express from Itanagar.

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While the chief engineer left leaving the file on the chief minister’s table, the latter “out of inquisitiveness” flipped through it, and found an envelope inside it. “When he opened it, he found to his utter surprise and shock that it contained Rs 5 lakh in cash,” the CMO official said. It was definitely a bribe, the official said.

The chief minister immediately summoned the chief secretary and directed him to file an FIR with the Special Investigating Team (SIT) of the state police. Though an FIR has been lodged and the SIT asked to investigate, the PWD chief engineer, who had allegedly taken the sum as a bribe for the new chief minister, has not yet been arrested.

Meanwhile, Nabam Tuki, MLA, in a press conference at Itanagar today said Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu means business and that the new regime would not spare anybody for any corrupt practice.