Two days police custody for graft-tainted SMC officer

SURAT: A special Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) court on Friday has remanded assistant engineer of the Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) arrested in the disproportionate asset (DA) case to two days police custody. The ACB sleuths had produced Rajesh Patel, 48, in the special ACB court seeking his remand on Friday morning.
The ACB had booked Patel under the DA case on Wednesday following the inquiry ordered against him in 2016. The inquiry was initiated by the ACB after Patel was caught accepting bribe of Rs 25,000 from a builder for giving positive feedback for the construction project in Rander zone on February 25, 2016.
The accused, who is serving in the town planning department of SMC, had demanded bribe to give positive feedback for the construction project on a plot of a land in Rander zone. The complainant had approached ACB and lodged a complaint against the accused.
Sources said that the remand of the accused was sought on the ground of gathering information regarding the source of his income through which he amassed property and cash.