2 civic employees held for graft

The ACB is investigating whether there is a larger racket at work.

The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) on Tuesday arrested two BMC employees for allegedly accepting a bribe from a retired civic staffer. The ACB is investigating whether there is a larger racket at work.

ACB officials said the complainant,who retired as an employee of the BMCs solid waste management,had submitted an application at the S-ward office in Bhandup in January this year,seeking employment for his daughter.

Administrative officer Dnyandev Pingle and clerk Govind Dethe demanded Rs 1.5 lakh from the complainant for forwarding his application to the department concerned. The complainant paid them Rs 20,000 but they kept demanding more,after which the complainant approached us, said an ACB official.

The complainant,acting on the ACBs instructions,contacted the accused again and expressed willingness to pay the bribe. After bargaining,the amount was brought down to Rs 1.1 lakh,and it was decided that the complainant would pay the first installment of Rs 40,000 to the duo at the office on Tuesday.

ACB officials laid a trap and as soon as Pingle and Dethe allegedly accepted the bribe,they arrested them. We are investigating if the accused took bribes from others in the past, said Additional Commissioner of Police (ACB) Rameshkumar Mor.

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