In Madhya Pradesh’s Morena district, a routine Janta Darshan at the Morena Municipal Corporation into a real-time corruption exposé as a local resident named Pankaj Rathore dialled up to a man who openly demanded bribes and also read out a ‘rate list’, in front of Mayor Sharda Solanki. A video of this incident has gone viral online.
The incident unfolded on 11th November 2025, when Pankaj Rathore, who was seeking approval for a building permit, arrived at the Janta Darshan program at the MMC office. In presence of Mayor Sharda Solanki, Rathore alleged that a broker had been constantly demanding bribe in the name of municipal officers.
To back his claim, Pankaj Rathore dialled the person in front of the mayor and put the call on speaker. Rathore told the bribe-seeker that his slip has been issued and asked what should he do now. The bribe-seeker told him to send the file’s PDF and started detailing the bribe amounts needed to clear Rathore’s building permit approval file.
This video is reportedly from Morena, Madhya Pradesh, where a young man approached the Mayor with a corruption complaint. When the Mayor asked him how he knew about the bribery, the youth immediately called the corrupt officials on the spot and exposed them right in front of the… pic.twitter.com/0dn4RuprCG
— The Nalanda Index (@Nalanda_index) November 16, 2025
He said that Rs 10,000 will be required for one KK Sharma, Rs 4,000 for “someone with a photo”, Rs 1,000 for Ajay Parihar and Rs 3,000 for himself. In total, the bribe amount was about Rs 15,000 to Rs 18,000.
As per an FPJ report, the complete break-up of the bribe sought was: RI Ashok Bharti demanded Rs 10,000, Mohar Singh asked for Rs 8,000 for name transfer, Shailendra Srivastava demanded Rs 6,000, and KK Sharma asked for ₹10,000 for signing documents.
Stunned by the real-time corruption exposé, Mayor Solanki ordered immediate action. Municipal Commissioner Satendra Singh Dhakare informed that show-cause notices have been issued to the employees and officers whose names have emerged during the said phone call. He added that further action will be taken after responses to the show-cause notices have been received.
The MMC official also stated that building permit process is completely online and the applicants are not required to visit the Municipal Corporation office. “People apply through an architect, the fee is generated online, and the permission is issued digitally. As of the date of the complaint, no online application from him was found,” he said.
