Firemen held for accepting Rs 16,000 bribe

PUNE: The state anti-corruption bureau (ACB), Pune, on Saturday arrested two firemen on Saturday for accepting a bribe of Rs 16,000 from a builder even after issuing him a no objection certificate (NOC).
The ACB identified the suspects as deputy fire officer Uday Madhavrao Wankhede (52) and fireman Anil Sadashiv Mane (32) from the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation fire station at Sant Tukaramnagar in Pimpri.

The builder had applied for provisional fire NOC for his upcoming project at Wakad. The firemen handling the file had demanded a bribe of Rs 25,000 from the builder for seeking necessary clearance from their superiors for issuing the NOC.

ACB assistant commissioner of police Jagdish Satav said, “The builder had received the NOC from the fire station, but the firemen demanded a bribe of Rs 25,000. After negotiations, the bribe amount was reduced to Rs 16,000.”

“ACB officials, under the guidance of superintendent of police Sandeep Diwan, set a trap and caught Wankhede and Mane accepting bribes of Rs 15,000 and Rs 1,000 respectively,” Satav said.