4 government officials, 1 cop caught taking bribes

The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) on Monday arrested four people including three BMC engineers and an architect red-handed while accepting a bribe of Rs 15 lakh. In another case, they arrested a police officer for taking a bribe of Rs 10,000.

Those arrested have been identified as Sunil Rathod, executive engineer from the building proposal department of BMC's E-ward at Byculla, sub-engineer Balaji Birajdar, assistant engineer Vilas Khilare, architect Satish Palav and another person by the name of Narayan Patil.

According to the additional commissioner of police, ACB, Vishwas Nangre-Patil, the complainant is a builder for whose Dadar project an Intimation of Disapproval (initial permissions for construction) had been sanctioned. "He was waiting for the letter's release from the building proposal department. The BMC officials demanded Rs 25 lakh to release the letter," said Nangre-Patil.

The complainant then lodged a complaint regarding this with the ACB on Monday. "A trap was laid at the E-ward office and the accused were caught red-handed accepting a bribe installment of Rs 15 lakh.

In another case, ACB sleuths arrested an office superintendent, Baliram Shinde, 56, working at the office of the director general of police for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 10,000.

According to the police, the complainant is an officer from the Pune city police and required interim approval for constructing a house. "His application was pending at the DGP office. To give the approval, Shinde had demanded Rs 22,000. Shinde was apprehended in a trap laid at CST on Monday and while accepting the first installment of bribe of Rs 10,000," said director general of police, ACB, Pravin Dixit.