MUMBAI: The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) sleuths caught a revenue department official along with two agents who accepted a bribe of Rs 23 lakh on Tuesday to hand over a government file related to a land dispute to the complainant. The file, signed by minister of state for relief and rehabilitation in the previous government, with an order in the complainants favour was lying in the former ministers official bungalow. The ex-ministers possible role in the case is also under the scanner. One of the agents, Vaibhav Andhale, told the complainant that the minister had passed an order in his favour and demanded Rs 25 lakh for the signed file. It was then that the complainant approached the ACB. On Tuesday afternoon, Andhale called the complainant with the money to South Mumbai. He took an initial amount of Rs 23 lakh from the complainant and drove him to the ministers bungalow near Mantralaya. He then went inside accompanied by an ACB witness. Andhale returned after a while with the file and handed it over to the complainant. Andhale then went to the desk officer, Sanjay Suradkar, at the departments temporary office at World Trade Centre along with the ACB witness. Andhale gave Rs 1 lakh to Suradkar and Rs 50,000 to the other agent. The witness then signalled the waiting ACB team who raided the office and caught all of them. After paying Suradkar, Andhale had kept the larger chunk of the money for the person who had a bigger stake in the entire process. We will inquire about everyones role in the case including that of the minister, said an officer. The complainant held the power of attorney for 18 acres of a religious trusts land in Pune and was locked in a dispute related to the property. The district collector conducted hearing over the dispute and passed an order against the complainant. The complainant then approached the appellate authority in the matter (the minister). The relief and rehabilitation department comes under the revenue ministry. The file related to the dispute was then officially transferred from the collectors office to the ministers office. After the Prithviraj Chavan government resigned last month, the file was supposed to be submitted back to the department concerned. But it was kept at the ministers bungalow (the minister is yet to vacate the property). The minister had signed on the file, but didnt mention the signing date, said a source. The arrested agent Andhale is in his twenties and is a BEd student. The ACB searched his house and recovered 82 files from his home, many of them government files. Additional commissioner of police Vishwas Nangre-Patil said, We produced the three arrested accused before the court and they were remanded to four days custody. The court appreciated our work and it requires detail investigation. Money trap * The complainant was involved in a dispute over 18 acres of religious land in Pune, for which he held power of attorney. The local collector heard the dispute and passed an order against him * The complainant then approached the appellate authority, which was a minister of state in the revenue ministry in the previous Democratic Front government * He was then told by an agent, Vaibhav Andhale, that the minister had passed the order in his favour and signed the file, and demanded Rs 25 lakh to procure the file from the ministers official residence, which he is yet to vacate * On Tuesday, the complainant, who had already tipped off the ACB, met Andhale with the money * Andhale drove him towards the ministers bungalow near Mantralaya, went in with an ACB witness, returned with the file and handed it to the complainant * Andhale then went to the departments temporary office in World Trade Centre with the witness, gave Rs 1 lakh to desk officer Sanjay Suradkar and Rs 50,000 to an agent and kept the rest of the money for someone who was to get the largest share * The witness then signalled the waiting ACB team who raided the office and caught all of them
Posted on: Thu, 30 Oct 2014 10:35:46 +0000
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