The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) Wednesday arrested a deputy municipal commissioner of the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) and another person in connection with an alleged bribery case. According to the agency, on instruction of TMC official Shankar Patole, two private persons — Omkar Gaikar and Sushant Surve — were also involved in the crime. According to the ACB official, the complainant, a private developer, has been developing a property in Thane and approached the TMC to remove three illegal structures on the plot. Patole was on deputation in TMC, holding the charge of anti-encroachment department. Initially, when the complainant approached Patole in July, he allegedly demanded Rs 25 lakh to take action against the illegal structures. He allegedly accepted the first instalment of Rs 10 lakh from the developer in Surve’s bank account in July, an ACB official said, adding it would be verified. In September, Patole increased the bribe amount from Rs 25 lakh to Rs 50 lakh when the complainant approached the ACB and registered a complaint. The ACB laid a trap on September 30 in Mulund where Patole was supposed to come to accept the bribe amount but instead asked the complainant to meet him in Thane on October 1 morning. The ACB again laid a trap around 10 am but he did not turn up and said his person would meet him in the afternoon. The third time trap was laid and the official of the Mumbai ACB managed to nab Omkar Gaikar when he came to accept the second instalment of the bribe amount, said the ACB official. Based on the recording of the conversation in which Patole instructed the complainant to hand over the bribe amount to a private person, Patole was arrested in the evening, added the official. Both were produced in a court Thursday that remanded them in police custody till October 4.
