2 food distribution office clerks arrested,one of them owns four-storey building

Pramod Rupchand Solanki (27) of Patil Estate at Shivajinagar lodged a complaint. ACB officials said Solanki’s sister Santoshi Ruchand Solanki owns a licensed ration shop in Shivajinagar area. The government officials during a check had cancelled the licence of the shop as they found less food grains than mentioned in the shop’s record books.

Santoshi filed an appeal against the decision at Mantralaya in Mumbai where Junior clerk Patki demanded Rs 1 lakh from Solankis to help them get an order to renew the licence through his senior officer. Also,Chavan demanded Rs 10,000 from Solankis to pass the order.

Later,Patki and Chavan told Solankis they will not pass any order till their demand is met. Solanki,however,filed a complaint against the two at ACB office in Pune.

The ACB team comprising deputy superintendents Rajendra Galande,B M Kale,inspectors Prakash Shinde,Kanchan Jadhav,havaldar Sitaram Dhawde,Mohan Jadhav,police naik Vijay Mali laid a trap at the food distribution office in the central building around 7 pm on Wednesday and nabbed Chavan and Patki while accepting a bribe of Rs 10,000 and Rs 50,000 respectively. ACB team later conducted searches and found cash and jewellery at Chavan’s residence. The suspects were produced before the court on Thursday where they were remanded in police custody till November 3.