Madhya Pradesh CM removes senior IFS for demanding bribe, orders inquiry

BHOPAL: An audio clip that showed a senior Indian Forest Service (IFS) officer and chief conservator of forest (CCF) in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, demanding Rs 65 lakh as bribe from a timber trader; went viral on social media.
Chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has ordered removal of the IFS officer from the post and a detailed inquiry into the case.
As per reports, CCF Ajit Shrivastava had confiscated a truck of local trader illegally carrying timber from the forest area. Later, Shrivastava called the trader and demanded Rs 65 lakh as bribe to prevent him from legal action. Before demanding money, Shrivastava had also pressurised the trader to hand him over a land in Jabalpur. For negotiations, the trader was summoned to eight different places, where he recorded the voice of IFS Shrivastava demanding bribe and blackmailing him.
The deal continued from October 7 to November 17, where the IFS also involved trader’s son and threatened him of dire consequences. A hassled trader instead of paying money handed over the audio evidence to the forest department. When the IFS got a whiff that his voice has been recorded by the trader, he pleaded innocence and requested not to report the matter to his department. But the audio got leaked and reached to the seniors of the forest department.
Shrivastava in his clarification to local reporters said that he never demanded bribe and accused the trader for offering money or land to settle the case of timber theft. "The audio is doctored and not real. The trader has destroyed my career and image by making this false clip," alleged Shrivastava.
When the matter reached secretariat and then to the chief minister’s office, Shrivastava was shunted out of the post. A senior bureaucrat will investigate the matter, sources in the secretariat disclosed.