The Navi Mumbai Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) on Monday arrested a CIDCO officer and an agent for accepting a bribe of ₹50,000.
The accused have been identified as Sagar Madanlalji Tapdiya (47), an assistant estate officer from CIDCO, and private agent Ravindra Hukmichand Chajed (54). While Mr. Tapdiya is a resident of sector 16 in Kharghar, Mr. Chajed resides at Khanda Colony in Panvel. On Friday, the complainant had approached CIDCO to transfer a property to his name. He met Mr. Chajed who said ₹50,000 will be needed for the procedure.
“Since the complainant was aware that the original charge is only ₹5,900, which is to be paid online, he approached us. We verified his claims and learnt that the agent was indeed asking for the bribe allegedly for Mr. Tapdiya,” DSP Ramesh Chavan, ACB, Navi Mumbai unit, said.
Accordingly, they laid a trap and caught Mr. Chajed taking the bribe allegedly for Mr. Tapdiya at CIDCO’s nodal office in New Panvel. Before accepting the bribe, Mr. Chajed had introduced the complainant to Mr. Tapdiya at his office, and told him about the work and the money being paid.
The duo will be presented before the court on Tuesday.
Meanwhile in another graft case from 2014, ACB has applied for appeal against the acquittal. CIDCO estate officer Sanjeev Dhole (52) and Sanil Chandan Sarkar, a middleman, were acquitted on October 23, while CIDCO office assistant Sunanada Gaikwad (57) was convicted for five years for taking a bribe of ₹50,000 from an advocate in CBD Belapur.
