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Bribery Scandal: Thane police of Maharashtra arrested two including the Deputy Municipal Commissioner of Thane taking a bribe of 25 lakh and sent them to jail.
Bribery Scandal: The Thane police of Maharashtra arrested two including the Deputy Municipal Commissioner of Thane taking a bribe of 25 lakh and sent them to jail. A Deputy Commissioner and a person of Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC), arrested in a bribery case, were produced in a local court on Thursday, from where both were sent to police custody till 4 October. Deputy Municipal Commissioner Shankar Patole, who was leading the TMC’s encroachment control and expulsion department, and a person Omkar Gaykar was arrested on Wednesday during the raid by the Anti -Corruption Bureau (ACB) at the Civil Headquarters. Both were produced before Additional Sessions Judge VG Mohite, who sent both of them to police custody till 4 October after hearing the arguments of ACB officials. Advocate Vishal Bhanushali appeared for Patole. Gaykar was represented by advocate Jayesh Tikhe. Sushant Surve, a third person named in the FIR of bribery, is currently absconding.
Third accused absconding
According to the ACB, an FIR has been lodged against Patole, Gayakar and Surve under various sections of the Anti -Corruption Act. The ACB had sought custody of both on various grounds, including further investigation of the crime and location of the third accused. In Vishnu Nagar, Naupada, real estate developer Abhijeet Kadam had complained to Mumbai ACB that a Thane civilian officer (Patole) had allegedly sought a bribe of Rs 50 lakh to remove encroachments from his premises in the city. The complainant claimed that he had already paid Rs 10 lakh to the officer through Surve on 4 July. The builder was handing over the remaining Rs 25 lakh to Gaykar in Patole’s cabin at TMC headquarters on Wednesday, when the ACB caught both and arrested them.
Accused of implicating in rivalry
Patole’s counsel claimed that there was no connivance between his client and the arrested data operator or absconding accused. He also told the court that Patole was falsely implicated due to rivalry over his former anti -encroachment functions. While detention, the court said that the nature of the crime is serious and the possibility of a large racket associated with several government officials and clerks of the Municipal Corporation cannot be ruled out. The court said that the two arrested accused required custody to receive samples of the accused and to find out if they had demanded bribe from other persons for eviction in this way. The arrests were made on the 43rd anniversary of the Civil Corporation. Officials said that further investigation of the case will be done by the Thane unit of ACB.
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