Bhopal, Jan 20 (PTI) An employee of the Housing Board was caught red-handed while accepting a bribe of Rs 4,000 on Thursday to issue a no-objection certificate (NOC) for construction of a house in Madhya Pradesh's Bhopal, a Lokayukta official said.

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The accused employee Prahlad Shrivastava allegedly tried to injure himself with a knife when Lokayukta officials tried to nab him at his office, Lokayukta superintendent of police Manu Vyas said.

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A policeman from the raiding team sustained an injury while trying to prevent the accused from harming himself, he said.

Based on a complaint lodged by one Gopal Singh Rathore, a trap was laid and Shrivastava was caught red-handed while accepting the bribe amount at his office, the official said.

Shrivastava had allegedly demanded Rs 10,000 from the complainant for issuing an NOC to construct a permanent house in place of a temporary one, he said.

A case under relevant sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act has been registered against Shrivastava and further investigations in the matter are underway, he said.

A separate case was also registered against the accused official in TT Nagar police station for taking out a knife from a drawer and injuring himself, the SP added.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)