Rajasthan SDM who topped 2024 batch held on bribery charge

The complainant said that initially, a bribe of Rs 1 lakh was demanded, but they had eventually settled for Rs 50,000 instead. ACB officials said that the complainant’s claim was secretly verified, where the SDM’s reader, Dinesh Kumar, allegedly demanded Rs 50,000 for the SDM and Rs 10,000 for himself.

On Thursday, a bribe of Rs 60,000 was allegedly collected from the complainant in the SDM’s office. Additionally, the bag, which had the bribe amount and some “suspicious” cash to the tune of Rs 4 lakh, was also allegedly seized, with sources claiming it could be another bribe collected by the SDM’s office. Officially, the ACB has said: “The investigation regarding the said suspicious amount is also ongoing”.

The operation was executed under the supervision of ACB Deputy Inspector General of Police, Dr Rameshwar Singh, by a team led by Gyan Singh Chaudhary, Additional SP with ACB Sawai Madhopur. The accused are being questioned under the supervision of Smita Srivastava, Additional Director General of Police, ACB, and under the directions of S Parimala, Inspector General of Police. The ACB has registered a case under the Prevention of Corruption Act and further investigations are on, they said.

A 2024 batch Rajasthan Administrative Service (RAS) officer and a topper from the ST category, Meena was earlier posted as Assistant Collector (Under Training) in Tonk, and then as Sub Divisional Officer, Suhagpura, in Pratapgarh district, before her current posting. Before becoming an RAS officer, she had studied B.Tech, Electrical Engineering, at IIT Mandi.

During the mock interview process, when asked why she wants to shift from a technical field to an administrative one, she had said that RAS is the state’s premier service and is quite prestigious, with good salary and benefits. Next, she had said that “an administrative officer can use their legitimate authority to bring positive changes in the life of the common people”.