BARAMULLA, OCT 16: The Jammu and Kashmir Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) arrested Mubarak Ahmad Ganie, Assistant Executive Engineer (AEE) of the Public Works Department (PWD) Roads and Buildings (R&B) Division Sopore, on charges of demanding and accepting a bribe of ₹25,000 from a contractor on Thursday. Ganie was allegedly caught red-handed during a trap operation conducted by the ACB.
According to an official statement from the ACB, a contractor lodged a complaint alleging that the AEE was demanding a 2% commission as a bribe for processing the current bill of the “Construction of Lecture Block G+2” at the Government Degree College (GDC), Sopore. The complainant, who was overseeing the project under the supervision of the PWD R&B Division Sopore, reported that Ganie had refused to process his bill unless the bribe was paid. The demand was also allegedly extended to previous bills cleared by the AEE.
Refusing to pay the bribe, the contractor approached the ACB, filing a written complaint and requesting legal action against Ganie. The ACB conducted a discreet verification of the complaint, which substantiated the allegations, prima facie revealing the commission of an offence under Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (as amended in 2018).
Following verification, an FIR (No. 13-2024) was registered against Mubarak Ahmad Ganie at the ACB Police Station in Baramulla. A team, led by a Deputy Superintendent of Police, was formed to carry out the trap operation. On October 16, the AEE was apprehended while accepting the bribe from the complainant at the PWD R&B office in Sopore. The ₹25,000 bribe money was recovered from Ganie’s possession in the presence of independent witnesses, and additional cash was found during his personal search, which is now under investigation.
The ACB also conducted searches of Ganie’s residential and official premises, seizing incriminating documents in the presence of a magistrate and independent witnesses.
Following his arrest, Ganie was presented before the Special Anti-Corruption Court in Baramulla, where he was remanded to nine days of police custody. Investigations into the case are ongoing.
