The First Information Report (FIR) that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed against former Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh on corruption charges, though charges against Deshmukh is yet to be proven, has once again brought to fore the existence of deep-rooted corruption within government agencies.
The corruption charges against Deshmukh were levelled by former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh who claimed that the former minister had asked suspended assistant police inspector Sachin Vaze to extort money from bars and restaurants in the city.
A brief analysis of the statistics from the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) reveals that there has been an increase in corruption cases by 26 per cent where the maximum number of arrests for corrupt practices was made in the police department followed by officials of the revenue department.
According to the statistics, 254 cases were registered by the ACB from January till April 24 this year and 342 persons were arrested in such cases as compared to 201 cases were registered and 282 persons were arrested during the same period last year.
Of the 254 cases registered, 53 cases were registered against officials of the Revenue Department and 73 officials were arrested while in 50 cases registered against the police officials, 77 persons were arrested.
In the electricity department 24 cases were registered and 32 persons were arrested, Panchayat Samiti with 23 cases and 30 arrests and Municipal Corporations with 22 cases and 33 arrests.
A deep dive into the bribery amount involved in corruption cases reveal that bribery amount involving police department was Rs 11,58,100, followed by Municipal Corporations with Rs 10,05,500 and Revenue Department with Rs 9,45,400 bribe amount involved. Total bribe amount involved in all 254 cases is Rs 61.89 lakh.
"The police and Revenue departments have been among the top positions in corruption cases since past few years. Last year there were less cases registered because of the lockdown and once the lockdown was lifted, the cases again started rising. We appeal citizens not to fall into the demands made by corrupt government officials and come forward and lodge complaints with the ACB to ensure that corrupt officials are brought to book. We regularly take awareness campaigns for citizens to make them more aware about uprooting corruption," said an ACB official.
