Surat Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) officials Friday arrested a talati of Narmada and her aide for allegedly accepting a bribe amount of Rs 1 lakh from a farmer. According to Surat ACB, a farmer of Narkhadi village in Narmada district contacted the village talati, Nita Patel, and submitted an application to get power connection and house number for two rooms built in his own agricultural field to store seeds and urea and also to accommodate labourers working in his own field. The village talati demanded Rs 1 lakh for getting his work done, to which the farmer agreed. She also told the farmer to deliver the money to one Mahesh Ahjoliya in Gandhinagar, through a local courier firm of Surat. The farmer contacted the Surat ACB office Thursday, and lodged complaint against Narkhadi village Nita Patel. The officials said that the farmer Friday sent the bribe amount the courier firm. The ACB officials who were present in Gandhinagar caught Ahjoliya red handed with the bribe amount. During questioning, Ahjoliya confessed that he had collected the bribe amount on behalf of Nita Patel. The Surat ACB officials arrested Ahjoliya and later reached to Narkhadi village and arrested Patel. Assistant Director ACB Surat, N P Gohil said, “We have arrested both the accused for accepting bribe amount from the farmer. We will question them further to get more details.”
