New Delhi, Oct 20 (IANS): A suspected racket of permitting polluting construction activities in exchange for bribes has come to light with the CBI filing an FIR against a Delhi Revenue Department’s patwari who allegedly demanded money from a resident of Shaheen Bagh near Okhla for undertaking banned building work.

Anil Chaudhary, patwari, posted at the Sub Divisional Magistrate office in Lajpat Nagar, and a private person identified as Nitin, along with others, were named in the CBI FIR after they allegedly asked Shaheen Bagh resident Muhammad Waseem to shell out Rs 15,000 to escape penalty for carrying out construction activities which were otherwise restricted due to government measures to tackle poor air quality.

The suspects have been booked under the penal provisions dealing with criminal conspiracy in section 61(2) of Bhartiya Nyay Sanhita, 2023 and the provision of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

Waseem said in his complaint that a person who identified himself as patwari Anil Chaudhary visited his house and threatened to impose a penalty of up to Rs 1,00,000 for carrying out construction despite restrictions.

The complainant said he was called to the SDM office where, during a meeting in room number 109, he managed to negotiate and bring down the bribe amount from Rs 25,000 to Rs 15,000.

Waseem’s complaint said during the meeting the suspects avoided mentioning the amount verbally and preferred to draw the figure of the amount of bribe with their finger on a table. This suggested that the patwari and other suspects had been tipped off or had some fear of a possible trap.

After verifying Waseem’s complaint, a CBI official said in a report: “The demand of bribe by Anil Choudhary and his associates for not imposing fine on the complainant has been substantiated. Hence, it is recommended that a regular case may be registered U/s 61(2) of BNS read with section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (as amended in 2018) and substantive offence thereof against Anil Choudhary, Patwari, office of SDM, Lajpat Nagar, Delhi, and other unknown officials of SDM office.”

The incident comes to light during an ongoing political slugfest over the city’s toxic air. While the Opposition BJP and the Congress have accused corruption in the AAP government of its failure to tackle pollution, Chief Minister Atishi blamed the rival parties of playing "dirty politics".

The Chief Minister also dismissed the Opposition parties’ charge that the AAP-led government in Punjab had failed to control stubble burning, leading to air pollution in Delhi.

She, on the contrary, credited the AAP government in Punjab for helping Delhi by curbing stubble burning.

Citing data from the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), Atishi highlighted that between October 1 and 15, 2023, Punjab recorded only 811 farm fires, down 27 per cent from the previous year's 1,105.

In contrast, she pointed out, that BJP-ruled Haryana saw a 23 per cent increase in farm fires during the same period, rising from 341 in 2022 to 400 in 2023.