District Collector in soup over corruption allegations

Surendranagar: District Collector K.Rajesh is in soup over allegations of bribe taking by at least two persons.

Complainant Abhaysinh Rathod from Kundla village has in his complain informed the Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) that Collector K. Rajesh took Rs. 4 lakh from him, including Rs. 4 lakh in cash and Rs. 1 lakh through a cheque to clear his arms license application. Rathod said, the district collector also took 3 kg Til oil from him for malish on body.

Rathod alleged that the Collector approved his application on 17 July 2020 but later rejected it on 1st September 2020.

Rathod said he had applied for Arms license for self-defense through a letter on 15 January 2020 and he was asked to appear before the district magistrate on 27 January. Rathod said, when he went to Collector office, he was asked to pay money for license. Rathod says, he replied that money was there in his car. The Collector then sent his aide with Rathod to his car and collected Rs. 4 lakh cash in addition to Rs. 1 lakh cheque and 3 kg Til oil for body malish.

Another person, a lease owner from Nana Kerala village of Surendranagar district has also sent his complaint to ACB Director and alleged that District Collector Rajesh

Rathod has sent his complaint to Director, Anti Corruption Bureau at ACB headquarters in Shahibaug.

Another complainant, a lease holder from Nana Kerala has alleged that the Collector took Rs. 3.98 lakh including Rs. 98,000 through bank from him. He said the collector first demanded Rs. 49,000 for buying cloths.

It’s worth noting that these are only allegations, and no formal complaint has been filed by ACB yet. In such cases of allegations, ACB first check whether there’s truth in complain, and then only proceed further.