SDM, clerk caught taking Rs 2.25L bribe in Malegaon

MALEGAON: The Anti-Corruption Bureau, Nashik, on Wednesday nabbed Malegaon sub-divisional magistrate Sandip Patil while he was accepting a bribe of Rs 2.25 lakh from a farmer for clearing his land papers. A clerk working in Patil’s chamber at the Malegaon SDM office, Dyaneshwer alias Nana Bagade, was also arrested along with him.
This is the first incident in Malegaon in which a high-level officer has been arrested in a corruption case.About three months ago, Nargis Shaikh, a Talathi working under the Malegaon Prant Office, was arrested in a corruption case.
“Both Patil and Bagade were caught red-handed while accepting bribe from the farmer, who is a resident of Zodge,” deputy superintendent of police Nashik Ashok Karpe of the ACB told TOI.
Karpe said the identity of the farmer is being withheld for security reasons. “While a team of senior ACB officers were interrogating Patil and Bagade, a search was under way at the SDM bungalow and the residence of the clerk.”
Giving details of the case, Karpe said the farmer approached the ACB on Tuesday with a complaint that the Malegaon Prant officer was demanding money to clear the NA application of the 02 of the 05 acres of the agriculture land owned by him.
“Sandip Patil was demanding Rs 2 lakh from the farmer but finally settled for Rs 01.5 lakh. Nana Bagade accepted Rs 75,000 as bribe. Hence, a total amount of Rs 2.25 was to be paid to both of them,” Karpe said.
“The SDM was demanding money from the farmer ever since he had submitted the application, even though he had fulfilled all the requirements needed,” he added.
Patil was earlier in the news for his alleged links with the sand and mining mafia operating in and around Malegaon. Such strong was this link that the sand and mining mafia had a free run in the entire Malegaon taluka despite several letters by the Nashik collector and MIDC regional office asking him for a crackdown were dispatched to the Malegaon Prant Office.