The state Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) on Tuesday nabbed the sub-divisional officer (SDO) of Maval region, Sanjaysingh Ramrav Chavan (44), and his clerk, Suhas Ramesh Soma (45), for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs75,000 to sanction non-agricultural (NA) land documents.

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The complainant, Duttatray Gulab Falke of Pimpalsuti in Shirur taluka, lodged a complaint in this regard on Monday.

Superintendent of police (ACB) Vishwas Pandhre said, “Falke has 1-acre land in Shirur and wanted to start a petrol pump on it. On September 9, he met Chavan, who demanded Rs1 lakh to sanction the NA documents. The complainant again met Chavan on November 18 to negotiate the amount. Chavan agreed to accept Rs75,000 to issue the documents,” he said.

“We laid a trap at his office on Tuesday afternoon. The complainant came with Rs75,000 to Chavan’s office. His clerk Soma was present in the office. He told the complainant to keep the cash in Chavan’s table’s drawer. As per our plan, he signaled our officers and we nabbed him red-handed for receiving Rs75,000,” Pandhre said.

Chavan had gone to attend the meeting at Shikrapur. “We sent a police team to Shikrapur and arrested him around 3.30 pm. We will also raid Chavan’s house as part of the investigation,” he said.

This is the second tenure of Chavan in the city as sub-divisional officer. The police team comprised deputy superintendent of police (ACB) Sanjay Naikpatil, deputy superintendent of police (ACB) Padmakar Ghanwat and police inspector Sadanand Belasale.

“This year, we arrested eight Class I officers, seven Class II officers within our jurisdiction, comprising Pune, Solapur and Kolhapur districts. We laid 61 traps to nab the suspects,” added Pandhre.

Talking about awareness among people, Pandhre said, “We have conducted campaigns within our jurisdiction, in which we discussed with villagers and NGOs how they should approach the ACB, in case of malpractices by government officials,” he said.