Mumbai: BMC Official Including 2 Others Booked By ACB In Graft Case

The Mumbai Unit of Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) has registered a case against an official from the K-East Ward of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and two private persons for allegedly demanding a bribe of Rs 2 crore from a man in order not to take eviction action on his property and also to cooperate with the unauthorized construction.

The accused persons have been identified as Mandar Ashok Tari, Designated Officer, K-East Ward, Andheri and private persons Mohammad Shehzada Mohammad Yasin Shah and Pratik Vijay Pise (both arrested).

According to the ACB, the complainant has a four-storied building and since the upper two floors are unauthorized, in order to not to take eviction action on it and also to cooperate with the unauthorized construction there after purchasing the plot, BMC's K East Ward, civic official Mandar Ashok Tari had demanded bribe of Rs 2 crore from the complainant.

Since the complainant did not want to pay a bribe to the public servant, on 31/07/2024, he appeared before the ACB office and filed a complaint against the public servant. A verification into the allegation made in the complaint was conducted on 06/08/2024 and during the verification, it was revealed that Tari had demanded a bribe of Rs 2 crore.

A trap was then laid and two private persons were caught red-handed while accepting the first instalment of Rs 75 lakh from the complainant. A case has been registered against the accused trio under the relevant sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

In another case, a clerk from Solid Waste Management, N-Ward of the BMC in Ghatkopar has been caught red-handed by the ACB officials for allegedly demanding a bribe from a BMC safai worker. The complainant was due for promotion in the year 2022 according to the age limit. Accordingly, the complainant had applied to the concerned department in the BMC. In order to get the work done for the complainant, accused clerk Uddhav Garje allegedly demanded a bribe of Rs 5000. The complainant approached the ACB on 01/08/2028 and complained against Garje. A trap was laid on 06/08/2028 and Garje was caught red-handed while accepting bribe money.