‘Journalist’ facing graft charges slips through Surat ACB net with Rs 4 lakh ‘bribe money’ on complainant’s two-wheeler, probe on

Khan allegedly demanded Rs 21 lakh from the builder. He assured the complainant that he could carry out construction of the top two floors without the SMC demolishing it, citing his “friendship” with SMC Executive Engineer Vipul Ganeshwala, who earlier carried out the demolition. After the builder verified his claims, he agreed to pay Rs 15 lakh as bribe, police said. As per the conditions of the ‘deal’, the builder was to pay Rs 4 lakh on Thursday and the remaining Rs 11 lakh would have to be paid by Monday. The accused also allowed the complainant to talk to Vipul Ganeshwala over mobile phone.

After the builder contacted the Surat ACB office, a complaint was filed against the engineer and Khan, under multiple sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act. Afterwards, The officials proceeded to wait outside Khan’s office at Anjana on Thursday night in plain clothes hoping to catch him in the act of accepting a bribe. Khan allegedly accepted the bribe of Rs. 4 lakh from the builder after which he took the moped keys of the builder, promising him he would return in the next few minutes after storing the cash at home.

The ACB officers, who were waiting for the builder to come out of Khan’s office, were shocked to see the accused, Ismail Khan, exit through the main door of his office, and leave the spot on the builder’s moped.

Suspecting something may have happened to the complainant, the ACB personnel waited for some time and slowly went into the office of Khan and found the builder waiting on the visitor’s chair. Then, the ACB personnel immediately left the spot, hoping for the return of Ismail Khan. They waited for a while longer, but Khan did not turn up. When the police tried to reach him on the phone, it was found switched off. The officers carried out raids at his house but to no avail. Another team of Surat ACB reached Vipul Ganeshwala’s office but found no trace of him, with his mobile phone switched off as well.

Surat ACB ASP and supervision officer R R Chaudhary said, “We were expecting the complainant to come out from the office, but in his place the accused Ismail Khan came out with the bag and drove away on the moped of the complainant. We felt that something bad may have happened to the builder. We were relieved after one of our staff went inside the office and found out that he was okay.’’

Chaudhary added, “We have enough evidence against Ismail Khan and Vipul Ganeshwala. Both of them were working together. In this case, we suspect that Khan may have come across the seventh floor of the building in Anjana and passed on this information to Vipul Ganeshwala, who then carried out the demolition after finding out that two floors were illegal. Both the accused are on the run… They will be arrested soon.”

Speaking to The Indian Express, SMC Limbayat (Surat East Zone) Deputy Municipal Commissioner N H Patel said, “Our Executive Engineer Vipul Ganeshwala was with me on field work this morning at 9:30 am and after finishing the work, I returned to my office at Limbayat zone and since then I have no news of him. He is not in the office or in the field, and he has not even informed us about his leave. We have learned that a complaint has been filed with the Surat ACB against Ganeshwala. We will look into the case.”