MUMBAI, July 12: The state Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) on Saturday arrested a junior engineer of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) for accepting a bribe of Rs 25,000 to authorise an illegal structure. They have also arrested a labourer on charges of complicity.A carpenter from Juhu, Sher Ali Sheikh, was constructing an unauthorised wooden structure at Andheri. Initially, Junior Engineer Balram Madhav Khire (48) of the K West ward office threatened to demolish the structure. He told Shaikh that since he did not have the requisite permissions, the shanty he was constructing was illegal and could be brought down any day. However, on Thursday Khire bargained and told Sheikh that he would spare him if he paid Rs 25,000.Though Sheikh agreed, he later lodged a complaint with the ACB. The ACB officials handed him Rs 25,000 smeared with a red powder and laid a trap for the engineer.Recounting the events, ACB sources said that when Sheikh went to meet Khire, the latter very smartly refused to acceptthe money directly and asked him hand over the cash to a petty labourer Babla Motiram Naksihe (32). But, ACB officials later managed to zero in on Khire when he was accepting the money from Naksihe. Both of them were arrested.
