Thane: ACB arrests gram sevak for demanding Rs 15 000 bribe to facilitate property tax assessment

The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) has arrested a gram sevak for allegedly demanding a bribe of Rs 15,000 to facilitate property tax assessment for a house in a village in Maharashtra's Thane district, an official said.

Based on a complaint, the ACB's Thane unit laid a trap and caught the accused while accepting Rs 10,000 at the Ovli gram panchayat office in Bhiwandi on Thursday, the official said.

The complainant had built a house in the limits of Ovli village and had applied for assessment of property tax and the gram panchayat started taxing his property from March 1, he said.

The accused had demanded Rs 15,000 from the complainant to facilitate the tax assessment, he said. An offence under the Prevention of Corruption Act has been registered against the arrested accused, the official added.