Nagpur: The Revenue Department has once again topped Maharashtra’s corruption chart. The State Police are second on the list — comprising 44 government departments — prepared by the Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB), according to reports.
The ACB in the last six months has registered 314 offences, of which 72 are against Revenue Department officials — three against class one officers, 6 class two and 62 class three. Against the Police Department, the ACB has registered 67 offences, of which four are against class one officers, 11 class two and 64 class three. Also, 19 BMC officials have been caught red-handed while accepting bribes. ACB has also trapped 20 ZP, 29 Panchayat Samiti, six Forest Department, seven PWD and 13 Education Department officials.
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According to reports, the ACB’s 314 cases of corruption registered in the last six months include 306 traps and six disproportionate assets cases. The total amount involved in the traps is Rs 14. 3 crore. One of the cases is of a Mumbai Police constable, Suresh Bamne, and his wife, who are accused of allegedly amassing assets worth Rs 12. 7 crore, which was over 1,500% more than his known sources of income. Similarly, Nitin Patankar, from the BMC’s P North ward office, has been booked for amassing Rs 38.3 lakh, which was about 45% more than his known sources of income.
Two ACB traps involved comparatively huge amounts. One was of Sub-Inspector Bharat Munde of NM Joshi Marg Police Station: He was caught by the ACB accepting a bribe of Rs 7 lakh from a complainant to help him exclude his name in a rape case. In March this year the ACB laid a trap and arrested Deputy Tehsildar of Bhiwandi Division Vithal Gosavi, a tout Vijay Bhoir and a jeweller Laxman Singh Rajpurohit for accepting a bribe of Rs 6 lakh from a farmer whose land was acquired by the railways.
ACB also seized 43 cheques valued at Rs 2. 3 crore from various banks. The cheques belonged to various farmers and were “advance bribes”. The ACB last week booked BJP MLA Narendra Mehta and his wife for allegedly amassing assets worth Rs 8. 25 crore. Around the same time, the ACB also booked South Mumbai-based hotelier Jitendra alias Jitu Navlani, for allegedly collecting Rs 58 crore from businessmen by promising them protection from any action by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). Navlani’s name cropped up earlier as well in connection with former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh. The Bombay High Court stayed further investigation in the case.
According to ACB, as citizens have become more vigilant, corrupt officials are becoming more alert and they take all precautions to avoid being trapped. They engage middlemen to keep themselves safe and yet we have arrested so many public servants, along with middlemen,” said the ACB. ACB officials said the agency has become more transparent and approachable as people can lodge complaints on the ACB website and through its dedicated helpline number.
