Kolhapur mayor, booked by ACB for graft, checks into hospital

The Maharashtra Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) has booked the mayor of Kolhapur district in Western Maharashtra for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs. 16,000.

But the mayor, Trupti Avadhut Malavi, who was due to be arrested on Saturday and produced before a local court, checked herself to a local hospital in the afternoon amid scenes of high-drama, complaining of “ill-health.”

Ms. Malavi, a leader in the Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party, reportedly sought a bribe of Rs. 40,000 from a local resident for signing on a proposal to return his land which was earlier acquired by the Kolhapur Municipal Corporation (KMC).

“She has been booked under the Prevention of Corruption Act. She will be arrested as soon as she is discharged,” said Digambar Pradhan, Deputy Commissioner of Police of the Pune’s ACB range. She will be arrested as soon as she is discharged

According to ACB sources, the mayor, through her personal assistant, Ashwin Gadkari had initially asked the resident Santosh Patil to pay up Rs 40,000. This graft amount was later scaled down to Rs 16,000 when Mr. Patil said he could not raise more. The amount was later collected through Mr. Gadkari and was accepted by the Mayor.

On Friday, Mr. Patil, who had already alerted the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), walked into the Mayor’s office carrying the sum and handed it over to Mr. Gadkari, while asking for a meeting with Ms. Malavi. The unsuspecting mayor, who allegedly told Mr. Patil later that “his work would be done”, was nabbed by ACB officials who had sprung a trap to her.

Ms. Malavi was immediately spirited away to the Kolhapur's ACB headquarters where she was questioned for two hours by authorities late Friday evening. Mr. Gadkari was immediately taken into custody.

 

Meanwhile, activists from the Shiv Sena staged impassioned protests before the Mayor’s office demanding her immediate resignation and arrest. They further demanded that the entire KMC, which is presently held by the Congress and the NCP, be dissolved on grounds that it was “a hotbed of corruption” and that fresh elections be held immediately.

 

This is the first instance of a mayor from the State landing in the ACB’s net. Ms. Malavi’s husband, another NCP leader was murdered in 2004 allegedly due to political rivalry.