When Piketty came to India
Thomas Piketty, the French economist and author of the famous book Capital in the Twenty First Century, was recently in India. He delivered a lecture on the state of inequality globally as well as in India.
A patwari in Madhya Pradesh’s Katni swallowed money he had taken as a bribe after spotting a team of the Lokayukta’s Special Police Establishment (SPE).
The Revenue Department official, Gajendra Singh, received ₹ 5,000 as a bribe in his private office A trap was laid by the SPE of the anti-corruption department Lokayukta, Sanjay Sahu, Superintendent of Police said.
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A man from the nearby Barkheda village had complained to the Lokayukta accusing Gajendra Singh of seeking money for some official work in return. He wanted to get the demarcation of his grandfather’s land done in his favour. While he was accepting the bribe, Singh spotted the SPE team and put the Rs 500 notes in his mouth, and tried to swallow them. He was taken to the hospital.
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In the video, Gajendra Singh is seen being taken by the police to the hospital while he continues to chew the Indian currency notes. On reaching the hospital, he is asked to vomit out the notes in an empty petri dish used in hospitals, as is seen in the video. Shreds of nine 500 rupee notes were recovered.
Some news reports suggested that a constable tried to open the accused’s mouth to recover the notes but he bit his finger.
Gajendra Singh is a patwari in the revenue department in Bilhari Halka village in Katni.
Chandan Singh Lodhi from Madhya Pradesh’s Barkheda had filed a complaint in Jabalpur Lokayukta against Singh. Chandan alleged that Singh was asking for a bribe for demarcating his grandfather’s land. Singh had asked Chandan to meet him at his private office where the money could exchange hands. Chandan reportedly requested Singh that he should spare him the bribe money but Singh refused to do so.
There have been many such instances in the past of people having shoved money in their private parts to escape police however none have been able to escape the law enforcement agencies.
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