SDM Kajal Meena topped the RAS exam and gave an inspirational interview about bringing positive change to people's lives. Five months into her first posting, the ACB caught her accepting a Rs 60,000 bribe for a land decree. Her mock interview has now gone viral for entirely different reasons.
In what might be the fastest speedrun from idealism to corruption charges in Indian administrative history, SDM Kajal Meena — a 2024-batch Rajasthan Administrative Service officer who topped the exam in the ST category — was caught by the Anti-Corruption Bureau on April 16 while accepting a Rs 60,000 bribe in Nadoti, Karauli district. She had taken charge only on October 30, 2025. The bribe was for issuing a final decree on a land case, originally demanded at Rs 1 lakh before being negotiated down to Rs 50,000 through her reader Dinesh Kumar Saini and senior assistant Praveen Dhakad. ACB teams recovered an additional Rs 4 lakh in suspected cash from her bag. The real kicker: a pre-exam mock interview clip — in which Meena earnestly explains her dream of bringing positive change to people's lives — has since gone mega-viral. She brought change alright. Just not the kind she described on camera.