Senior KDMC official caught ‘taking’ Rs 5 lakh bribe from builder

KALYAN: Thane anti-corruption bureau on Wednesday reportedly caught a Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation’s assistant commissioner “red-handed” while accepting a Rs 5 lakh bribe for not taking action against an illegal construction in Kalyan.

Other than additional muncipal commissioner Sanjay Gharat, the ACB also arrested two of his alleged aides—KDMC clerks Bhushan Patil and Lalit Amre.

ACB officers told TOI that Gharat initially demanded Rs 42 lakh from the complainant and after negotiations settled on Rs 35 lakh.

Gharat is also in-charge of 27 villages which were merged into the KDMC area two years ago. ACB officials said the complainant, a builder, had constructed ground-plus-seven-storey illegal buildings in the 27 villages. The KDMC had served him a notice, ordering him to raze the structures. The developer approached Gharat through Patil who works in KDMC’s anti-encroachment department to request that no action be taken. ACB sources said after Patil arranged the developer’s meeting with Gharat, he demanded a bribe for not taking any action. The builder approached ACB officers who laid a trap inside his cabin on Wednesday and arrested the three while they were accepting Rs 5 lakh—the first instalment. They seized documents from his office as well as his car.

On Wednesday, BJP MLA Narendra Pawar demanded a probe into Gharat’s alleged disproportionate assets. Deepak Dalvi, deputy superintendent of police, Thane ACB, told TOI: “In the past too we had received complaints against Gharat. We will decide on a probe into his disproportionate assets very soon.”