Thane: 2 water project employees held by ACB for bribery

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The Anti-Corruption Bureau has arrested two employees of the Thane Zilla Parishad's water project for reportedly taking a bribe of Rs 20,000 from a contractor, the ACB said on Tuesday, PTI reported.

According to the contractor's complaint, who was engaged for a rural water supply scheme, the accused - an executive engineer and a peon had demanded Rs. 27,000 from him in order to clear the payment for his work, an ACB official said.

Later, the accused agreed to reduce the amount asked to Rs. 20,000.

The contractor was unwilling to pay the bribe and reported the matter to the ACB, PTI cited.

The peon was caught taking the bribe amount on behalf of the engineer when the anti-graft agency set up a trap at the water scheme office on Monday, the official said.

Both the accused are taken into custody and booked under provisions of the Protection of Corruption Act, ACB added, PTI cited.

Two forest officials held for accepting bribe in Palghar district

Two forest officials from Maharashtra's Palghar district were arrested for allegedly demanding and accepting bribe from a complainant after threatening to take action against him, the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) said on Friday, reported the PTI.

According to the PTI, one of the suspect who was identified as Pannalal Dinkar Beldar (35), is a forest guard and the second official, identified as Pankaj Shantaram Saner (45), is a ranger, said Harshal Chavan, deputy superintendent of police of ACB in Palghar district.

The ACB official said the complainant, who owns a chawl along the Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway, was changing the entrance to his property in the opposite direction for easy access, but the two officials accused him of encroaching upon forest land, the news agency reported.

Saner on September 16 demanded Rs 2,40,000 from the complainant to not act against him. He paid Rs 90,000 to the accused duo the same day, said the official.

The complainant then approached the ACB, which laid a trap and nabbed the two on Thursday after Beldar allegedly accepted Rs 40,000 as part of the bribe, he said, the PTI reported.

The Valiv police have booked the two under the Prevention of Corruption Act, he added, as per the PTI.

(With inputs from PTI)