ACB books former town planner for disproportionate assets

According to ACB officials, Dahe, who was then a town planning officer in Ahmednagar, was trapped and arrested by the ACB in March 2014 while allegedly accepting Rs 4 lakh from a developer in exchange for granting transfer of development rights for a plot of land.

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Officials said Dahe had initially demanded Rs 18 lakh, but settled for Rs 4 lakh after negotiations. After the trap, the ACB searched Dahe’s residence in Ahmednagar and found Rs 9.04 lakh in cash.

When he could not account for the money, the ACB initiated an open inquiry into his assets and also evaluated his earnings from 1986, when he joined the town planning department, up to 2014.

“During the open inquiry, Rs 2.38 lakh were found in Dahe’s house in Aurangabad, while Rs 4.25 lakh were found in his fixed deposit account. During inquiries, Dahe was unable to account for this money,” said Deputy Superintendent of Police A R Devare, ACB, Ahmednagar.

According to the ACB’s calculations, Dahe earned Rs 88.22 lakh from 1986 to 2014, and his expenditure during this time was pegged at Rs 37.31 lakh. While the difference between his earning and his expenditure was Rs 50.91 lakh, his assets, including Rs 19.15 in cash, were worth Rs 70.07 lakh.

ACB officials said that Dahe, till date, has not been able to give a satisfactory explanation as to how he had Rs 19.15 lakh in cash with him, and that this cash alone increased the value of his assets up to 490.50 per cent more than his earnings from his known sources of income.

gautam.mengle@expressindia.com