ACB arrests two for graft

AURANGABAD: The Aurangabad unit of anti-corruption bureau (ACB) nabbed two government officials in two separate incidents on Friday.
Superintendent of police (ACB) D S Swami said that a city-based hotelier had applied for permission for a food and lodging business on July 31, but Ravindra Singh Pratap Singh Rajput, a clerk in the revenue department of the district collectorate, did not clear his application.
Rajput sought a bribe of Rs 5,000 for clearing the file. The applicant approached the Aurangabad ACB office and lodged a complaint against Rajput on August 7. An ACB squad laid a trap the next day. However, Rajput smelled a rat, so did not accept the bribe though he asked him to come to a spot in front of the Vivekanand Garden near TV Centre on August 8.
Nevertheless, a case of demanding and attempting to accept bribe has been registered against him in the City Chowk police station by ACB inspector Pramod Patil.
In the next incident, a class-IV employee of the Aurangabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) was arrested by the ACB on the charges of demanding and accepting bribe from a person.
Kailas Rakhmaji Jadhav (42), a resident of AMC quarters, Delhi Gate, has been arrested red-handed by an ACB squad while accepting a bribe of Rs 10,000 from a house owner in front of a grocery shop in Harshnagar of Labour Colony on Friday at 2 pm.
Officials said that a dilapidated house in Mulamchi Bazaar was sealed by the anti-encroachment squad of the AMC on August 6 and was to be razed soon. Jadhav sought a bribe of Rs 25,000 to issue a fitness certificate and stall razing of the house.
However, on bargaining he agreed on Rs 20,000 to be paid in installments. The house owner approached the Aurangabad ACB office and lodged a complainant against Jadhav. An ACB squad laid a trap in front of a grocery shop in Harshagar and nabbed Jadhav after he accepted powdered currency notes amounting to Rs 10,000 (the first installment of the bribe). A case has been registered in the City Chowk police station.