Jalna deputy SP among three held by ACB in graft case

AURANGABAD: The Pune unit of the Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) on Thursday laid a trap and nabbed Sudhir Khiradkar (45), deputy superintendent of police of Jalna city division, and two police constables on the charge of accepting a bribe of Rs 2 lakh.
Police said the trio were arrested from Khiradkar’s office in Jalna, 60km from here. Besides Khiradkar, the other two arrested are police naik Santosh Ambhure (44) and constable Vithal Kharde (46). Ambhure is presently posted as a writer to the Kadim Jalna police station inspector while Kharde is a writer to Khiradkar.
The operation was carried out by a team led by deputy superintendent of police (ACB) Varsharani Patil. The team swooped down on the trio after Ambhure accepted powdered currency notes from the complainant.
Aurangabad superintendent of police (ACB) Rahul Khade told TOI, “A man named as an accused in a case registered under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act was allegedly asked to pay a bribe for helping him with the case. Unwilling to pay the bribe, he first reached out to the Aurangabad ACB, but on learning that senior officials were on leave, he approached the Pune unit of the ACB.”
Khade said that an ACB team from Pune went to Jalna on two days, Tuesday and Wednesday, to confirm the man’s statement. The team found that Khiradkar had demanded Rs 5 lakh from the man to weaken the case against him.
Khiradkar later settled for Rs 3 lakh, Khade said. He allegedly demanded that the first instalment of Rs 2 lakh be paid on Thursday and told Ambhure to collect the amount on his behalf.
After their arrest, an offence against the accused trio was registered under relevant sections of Prevention of Corruption Act at the Taluka police station.
ACB authorities said the trio will be produced before the court on Friday to seek their custody.
ACB’s Pune unit SP Rajesh Bansode told TOI, “The ACB head office in Mumbai had directed us to conduct the operation based on information it had received.”
A senior ACB officer confirmed to TOI that Khiradkar had demanded a bribe of Rs 5 lakh but later settled for Rs 3 lakh. “A high level of secrecy was maintained to execute the trap,” he added.
(With inputs from Gitesh Shelke in Pune)