BMC official, two others booked for accepting Rs 75 lakh bribe

An officer said, “The complainant had constructed a four-storied building in Andheri out of which two upper floors were illegally constructed. The BMC officials had recently conducted a survey and had accordingly served him a notice to demolish those unauthorised floors.”

The ACB officials said the complainant had then gone to the BMC office and met the designated officer, following which he demanded Rs 2 crore to avoid taking action against his illegally constructed floors. “Tari had further promised to help him in the other construction work which was taking place in a neighbouring plot,” said an officer.

As the 58-year-old complainant was not willing to fall for his demands, he then approached ACB officials and lodged a complaint on July 31.

The ACB officials conducted a preliminary inquiry and after verifying the complaint, they registered a case against Tari. “The complainant was being forced to pay the first installment of the bribe which was of Rs 75 lakh, following which we laid a trap and arrested two private individuals while accepting the money on Tari’s behalf,” said an officer.

The two individuals have been identified as Mohamed Shah (33) and Pratik Pise (35).

The ACB officials said that the three accused have been booked under relevant sections of Prevention of Corruption Act. “We are checking whether any of them have disproportionate assets,” said an officer.