Prayagraj : In a major anti-corruption breakthrough, a junior assistant with the Excise Department in Prayagraj was caught red-handed by the Anti-Corruption Team while accepting a bribe of ₹13,000 from a liquor trader. The accused, Ram Kumar Sonkar, was arrested on Friday at the office of the Deputy Excise Commissioner, Prayagraj Division, located in Mundera.
According to officials, the bribe was demanded in exchange for processing the return of a security deposit amounting to ₹10 lakh that had been submitted by a liquor shop owner. The shop, located in Chaufatka locality, was operated under license until the end of the 2024–25 financial year. It was not renewed in the subsequent year’s auction, and the owner’s son, Shikhar Kushwaha, had been following up with the Excise Department for the return of the deposit.
Frustrated with repeated delays, Shikhar filed a complaint with the Anti-Corruption Organization. Following a preliminary inquiry that validated the allegations, the agency planned a trap.
On July 11, acting on the plan, Shikhar visited the office with the marked bribe money and handed it over to Ram Kumar in the first-floor corridor of the Excise office. The Anti-Corruption Team immediately moved in and arrested him with the cash in hand. A chemical test confirmed that Sonkar had handled the marked currency.
A formal FIR was registered at Cantt Police Station, and the accused is set to be presented before the court for further legal proceedings.
Systemic Corruption Under the Scanner
This arrest comes just days after a similar incident in Saharanpur on July 2, where Excise Inspector Shailendra Kumar was caught accepting a ₹25,000 bribe for the same reason—processing the return of a liquor trader’s security deposit. The two back-to-back arrests have raised serious questions about the functioning of the Excise Department and the role of higher authorities.
Sources within the department suggest that junior assistants like Ram Kumar are often scapegoats in a larger system of corruption, where the real decision-making power lies with senior officers. During his arrest, Sonkar was heard pleading, “Sir, what is my role in this?”—an apparent indication of his limited authority in the actual refund process.
The Anti-Corruption Bureau’s actions have sent shockwaves across the state, exposing a well-entrenched nexus in the Excise Department regarding security deposit returns. The case is now being closely monitored as a test of the administration’s resolve to clean up departmental corruption.
