In past four years, nearly 25 per cent of government employees nabbed by the Haryana Vigilance Bureau (VB) were policemen who sought bribe to giving favorable reports or not implicating the complainants in false cases.

As per the VB data reviewed by The Statesman, 540 government employees were arrested for corruption between 2012 to 2016. Of these, 114 Haryana Police personnel, mostly ranking from constable to sub-inspectors, were nabbed by the VB for accepting bribe. In all, employees of 52 departments were nabbed by the VB during the period.

A senior VB officer said the cops were nabbed while taking bribe from various persons for not falsely implicating their names in cases and in many cases for accepting bribe in lieu of giving favourable reports.

Police department was followed by the revenue department with 105 cases and majority of its employees caught red handed were Patwaris (block level revenue officer) asking bribe for correction in documents. Power department comes next with its 64 employees held for accepting bribe during the same period.

The other departments in the list include  excise and taxation (26), local bodies department (23), education (23), co-operative department (16), food and supply (14), horticulture (10), Haryana urban development authority (10), transport (nine), irrigation (nine) and forest (eight). The remaining employees arrested for corruption belonged to other 39 departments.

Maximum numbers of employees caught for corruption were reported in 2015 as a total 175 employees from the Haryana government nabbed by the VB, followed by 129 in 2013, 119 in 2014, 110 in 2016 and seven in
2012.

"Maximum people approach the Bureau complaining about the police personnel and revenue officers for graft cases. Majority of the employees held from these departments were caught red handed for taking bribe." a senior VB officer  told The Statesman on the condition of anonymity.

"Moreover, the state government has assured us more police stations and additional manpower that would further strengthen the bureau," he added.

At present, the State VB with its headquarter at Panchkula has five police stations in Panchkula, Ambala, Rohtak, Hisar and Gurugram.

The state VB had launched anti-corruption helpline on social networking websites, Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp where people can lodge complaints about government officials or employees seeking bribe from them.