Three including MHADA’s Executive Engineer arrested for demanding and accepting bribe

ACB officials reported that a 40-year-old man received a hutment in Kandivali from his uncle through a gift deed. Since the hutment was part of the Slum Rehabilitation Scheme, the complainant, hoping to benefit from the scheme, had submitted an application to the Land Management Office under the Abhay Yojana for property ownership transfer.

Along with the complainant, ten other hutment dwellers had also filed similar applications.

On January 27, the complainant visited MHADA’s Kalanagar office in Bandra to follow up on his request, accompanied by the other dwellers. During their interaction, Shrestha allegedly demanded a bribe of Rs 60,000 from each individual to process the ownership transfer. He further instructed them to pay Rs 2,00,000 as an advance to Trivedi, the contractor.

Unwilling to comply, the hutment dwellers approached the ACB office in Worli and filed a complaint. Upon investigation, it was revealed that Shrestha had sought a total bribe of Rs 6,60,000 from the complainant and others. He instructed them to give Rs 60,000 of that amount to Trivedi.

In response, ACB officials set up a trap and arrested Trivedi red-handed while accepting the Rs 60,000 bribe. Trivedi handed over the money to Yadav, the rickshaw driver, who was also arrested. Following this, a case was registered under Sections 7, 7(A), and 12 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, and Shrestha was subsequently taken into custody.