3 engineers of Pune Zilla Parishad held for accepting Rs 1.42 lakh bribe from contractor

Dayanand Gawade, Deputy Superintendent of Police, ACB, Pune unit, stated that the complainant contractor won the tender from Pune ZP to build two roads in Daund taluka last year and he submitted bills worth Rs 40 lakh for the work.

During a search, the ACB team recovered a bag carrying cash of Rs 8,58,400 from the official cabin of Baburao Pawar, the ACB said in a statement.

According to the ACB, Pawar and Pathare allegedly demanded a bribe of Rs 80,000 each (two percent of the bill) for checking and forwarding the bills to the higher authorities to get the amount approved.

Also, ACB has alleged that accused engineer Bagade demanded a bribe of Rs 14,000 from the contractor to get a favourable report prepared by the committee that is inspecting the road work.

The contractor filed a complaint against the three engineers at the ACB on March 3.
On March 11, ACB sleuths confirmed that the accused engineers have demanded Rs 1.74 lakh as bribe and two days later their team laid a trap and nabbed Pawar and Pathare while accepting Rs 1.42 lakh from the contractor, following negotiations.

Bagade was arrested for allegedly asking the contractor to hand over her bribe amount to Pathare. A First Information Report (FIR) was filed against the three accused officers at the Bundgarden police station.