File photo : Indian rupee banknotes exchanged discreetly as a bribe, illustrating corruption and illegal cash payments in India.
Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: The Nanded unit of the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) arrested a junior clerk of the National Highway Division of the public works department (PWD) and a private engineer after the latter was allegedly caught accepting Rs 1.2 lakh as part of a Rs 2.5 lakh bribe demanded for issuing a no-objection certificate (NOC) for a petrol pump. The accused were identified as National Highway Division junior clerk Sukesh Bhimrao Nahare, 34, a resident of Shankarnagar, Nanded, and private engineer Satish Madhukar Wagholhe, 30, who works with Parve Construction, Nanded, and resides at Naleshwar. During the operation, Wagholhe allegedly accepted Rs 1.2 lakh from the complainant, following which the ACB arrested him. A case was registered late Thursday night at Bhagyanagar police station under Sections 7, 7A and 12 of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
Nanded ACB superintendent of police Shrikrishna Kokate said the action followed a complaint from a person who had applied for an NOC from the executive engineer’s office of NHAI’s Nanded Division for a petrol pump. Nahare was also arrested for his alleged involvement in the demand and acceptance of the bribe. They were produced before a special ACB court in Nanded on Friday and remanded to one day in ACB custody. The trap was laid by ACB inspector Babasaheb Thore on Thursday evening at the PWD divisional office in Nanded.