Lokmat News Network
Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: Sensation prevailed in the fire brigade section of Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar Municipal Corporation (CSMC) after the Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) officials caught red-handed a contractual chief fire brigade officer Rayba Bhagwan Patil (59) and a Class III personnel Vaibhav Vijay Bakade (38) while accepting a bribe of Rs 7,000 (against the demand of Rs 10,000) for issuing no-objection certificate (NoC) to a petrol pump. They were trapped in the main office of the Fire Brigade in Padampura on Tuesday evening (5 pm).
The 52-year-old complainant is a trader and wanted to start a petrol pump in Narayanpur (B) near Waluj. Hence, he has been making rounds of the Padampura office for NoC for the last three months. Later on, Bakade demanded a bribe of Rs 10,000 for the NoC. To get rid of the harassment, the trader contacted the ACB superintendent Sandip Atole and lodged his complaint on Monday. Accordingly, the deputy superintendent Keshav Dinde and inspector Amol Dhas verified the complaint. Dhas then laid a trap in the office premises on Tuesday evening.
As per the telephone conversation, the complainant met Bakade in the office at 4 pm. He then told him to contact Patil to reduce the bribe amount. On the request, Patil reduced the amount to Rs 7,000 and told him to hand it over to Bakade.
Handkerchief in hand
As per the discussion, the ACB team laid the trap and the complainant was told to take the handkerchief in his hand as soon as the bribe money was handed over. As soon as the ACB team received the signal, they pounced on Bakade and nabbed him. Later on, Patil was also arrested. Later on, a case was registered against the duo at Vedantnagar police station.
Raid in Palghar
Patil is presently staying in the officer’s quarters at Padampura. His family stays in Chikhale village in Palghar tehsil. After arresting the duo, the ACB team conducted simultaneous raids on Patil’s native house in Palghar and Bakade’s official quarter at Seven Hills.
In Bakade’s house, the team during the search in the evening found 60 grams of silver, seven tolas of gold and Rs 14,000 cash.
Maintaining a tradition of accepting bribes?
In June 2024, the section was headed by Sampat Bhagat. Just 35 days after joining, he demanded a bribe of Rs 1.5 lakh from a builder in the name of a senior officer. When the matter came to the notice of the administrator G Sreekanth, he suspended Bhagat and a clerk B M Narke in the first week of August 2024.
Before this, there were similar complaints regarding a retired officer of the municipal corporation. As a result, he was not given any opportunity after his retirement. However, it came to light that the tradition of taking bribes is continued with the involvement of Patil.