Thane agriculture dept official arrested for demanding Rs 25,000 bribe

THANE: An official from the Thane district agriculture department in Maharashtra has been arrested for allegedly demanding a bribe from a trader to revoke suspension of licence of his fertiliser vending shop, officials said on Wednesday.
According to Ashwini Patil, deputy superintendent at the Thane anti-corruption bureau (ACB), the accused, Vijay Tupsoundarya, who works as a quality control officer at the district agriculture office was approached by the complainant who operates a fertiliser selling shop in Thane.
The license for the shop was suspended some time back for 15 days back for some violation. The complainant however approached the officer in his office for revoking the same.
The drives were conducted under the supervision of Sunil Lokhande, superintendent at the Thane ACB, and Sunil Gherdikar, additional superintendent at the Thane ACB.
The officials have appealed to residents to approach the Thane ACB if they come across any government official who had made any demand for bribe.
“As per the complaint, the accused initially demanded RS 25,000 as bribe from the complainant. The accused also offered to collect the bribe amount from the trader’s shop probably to avoid drawing any attention. The complainant meanwhile alerted the ACB officials that sent an undercover witness along with the trader who approached the official in his office where the bribe amount was negotiated to Rs 20,000,” informed Patil.
After the accused made the demand in front of the witness, the ACB sleuths swung into action and booked and arrested him under relevant sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 at the Wagle estate police station.
“The accused has been presented before the court that has sent him to police custody for two days,” Patil said.