Corrupt officials in Bihar have gone beyond cash, they are now demanding bribes in kind. Apart from laying their hands on bundles of crispy currency notes, they are looking for branded shoes, goats, car spare parts, and also kiss in lieu of getting villagers’ work done!

Vigilance sleuths caught a police officer accepting automobile spares such as compressor, condenser, and cooling coil along with the purchase receipts for his SUV vehicle lying idle at home. The arrested sub-inspector posted with Madhaura police station in Saran district had been demanding car’s spare parts as a bribe from a local villager Vivek Kumar Singh for arresting the absconding criminals who committed theft in his home.

He refused to act in the matter until the bribe was paid. A miffed Singh instantly reported the matter to the vigilance authorities who found the matter true during the inquiry and laid a trap for his arrest. The corrupt cop was eventually arrested yesterday while he was accepting a vehicle’s spare parts as a bribe.

In March this year, a senior health official hit the headlines when he allegedly demanded “sexual favours” from a female health worker for staying her transfer to a remote health centre. The Auxiliary Nurse Midwife (ANM) posted with Sumeli block primary health centre located in Katihar district wanted her transfer to stay forthwith so that this didn’t disturb her family life.

She was shocked when the health centre in charge, Dr. Vinay Kumar Singh, asked her to give him a “kiss” in lieu of staying her transfer. “Hamra ke khali chummi de diho (Just give me a kiss),” the health official was heard telling the nurse over the phone which soon went viral.

Even a more interesting incident was reported from Kotwali police station in Patna recently where policemen demanded a goat from a businessman after he was caught drunk. The cops were checking vehicles making their entry into the town at night when they came across a pick-up van carrying 27 goats. During the checking, one of the four businessmen identified as Mohammad Zafir was caught in an inebriated condition after which the cops seized the vehicle and took it to the local Kotwali police station. They released the man only after he had given a goat to the cop who wanted to have it for a “mutton party”.

In yet another incident reported from the same Patna district, a police officer was suspended for demanding a pair of branded shoes for his son as a bribe from a local villager Shatrughan Yadav in lieu of settling his land dispute case. “Sukhle-sukhle (do you expect help free of cost),” the cop asked when the villager approached him for help.

But the most horrible incident was reported from Agamkuan police station in Patna where the cops sent a minor boy to jail charging him with involvement in bike robbery after he allegedly refused to give a full jackfruit to the cops free of cost. As the matter came to the notice of the chief minister, he ordered an inquiry and it was only after then that the boy could be released from jail while 11 police officials were placed under suspension. This incident took place in 2018.