Patna, July 22: Special vigilance Judge Raghwendra Kumar Singh on Friday rejected the regular bail petition of suspended IAS officer Jitendra Gupta, who was arrested on July 13 on corruption charges.

Gupta's counsel Janardan Rai said his client was innocent, and that the vigilance police had failed to recover any bribe money from the possession of Gupta, who was posted as sub-divisional officer (SDO) of Mohania in Kaimur district.

Rai told the court that Gupta had not demanded bribe nor any document was found in his possession. "It is a doubtful case," the lawyer said. "The accused (Gupta) is ready to cooperate with the investigating officer."

Former minister and former advocate general of Bihar P.K. Shahi also represented Gupta, whose arrest has sparked jitters in the state bureaucracy who are footing his legal bill.

Shahi told the court that the purpose of the police will not be served if Gupta remains in jail.

Special vigilance public prosecutor Vijay Kumar Sinha and his assistant Anandi Singh, opposing Gupta's bail petition, said Gupta along with a driver and a homeguard were arrested on the basis of evidences. Apart from documents of four overloaded trucks seized by Gupta on July 4, some incriminating documents of one another truck were also recovered from the confidential section in the office of Gupta who was also holding additional charge of land reforms deputy collector, the public prosecutors told the court.

The evidences against Gupta the prosecution has given to the court include Gupta's driver Sanjay Tiwari's confession that the SDO had demanded Rs 90,000 for the release of every truck. The complainant, Jasprit Singh, said he had appealed to the driver to reduce the amount. According to the prosecution, the driver later told Singh said that Gupta had agreed to accept Rs 80,000 per truck.

The prosecution alleged that on July 12 Singh had given Tiwari Rs 80,000 and the driver gave the money to homeguard Ashok Srivastava to count. The driver took back the money after it was counted, The vigilance police also arrested Tiwari and Srivastava during the raid on Gupta's home and recovered Rs 80,000 cash. The prosecution claimed that the SDO did not make entry on the files of the seized trucks, and denied Gupta's allegations that he had been framed by the Kaimur superintendent of police.