Corporator, hubby held for taking Rs 15,000 bribe

BMC corporator Shradha Patil and her husband Rajesh were arrested by the Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs15,000 from a man who runs an NGO of unemployed youth. The duo allegedly threatened to cancel the NGO's contract of cleaning and collecting garbage from slums.

Vishwas Nangre Patil, additional commissioner of ACB, said, "The complainant had bagged the contract of cleaning Nayanagar and Ghad slums of Ward 181 in Mahim under the Clean Prabodhan Abhiyan Scheme. The duo was torturing the complainant and threatened to abort the contract if he did not pay a monthly instalment of Rs10,000 as bribe to them."

As part of the initiative, BMC gives the responsibility of house-to-house garbage collection and cleaning of slums to select NGOs.

The ACB officials said that they have tapped a conversation in which the accused threatened the complainant and asked for a bribe from him.

The complainant had first approached the civic body complaining against the duo. Later, he approached the ACB. On Wednesday, a trap was laid at the residence of the accused in Mahim. The duo was caught red-handed accepting a bribe of Rs15,000 and were arrested immediately.