Thane court sentences BMC tax officer to 4-yr in jail for taking bribe from trucker

Thane: A court in Thane has sentenced a tax official with the BMC vigilance cell to four years in jail for taking a bribe of Rs3 lakh from an octroi agent nine years ago.

In the order passed on Wednesday, Special Judge Amit Shete, hearing cases pertaining to the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), also imposed a fine of Rs20,000 on the accused, Sunil Bane. 

Another accused acuitted

Another person accused in the case, Sanjay Lahot, an inspector with the BMC’s vigilance cell, was given the benefit of doubt and acquitted by the court.

Prosecutor Sanjay More told the court that the accused, who worked as the deputy tax assessor and collector with the BMC’s vigilance department, had made a demand of Rs3 lakh as bribe from the octroi agent whose trucks were seized for alleged evasion of octroi, to reduce the penalty on it and not to initiate any action against him.

The octroi agent lodged a complaint with the Kopari police station in Thane and later the ACB, which laid a trap on June 18, 2014 and caught Bane red-handed while accepting the bribe amount from the complainant.

The prosecution alleged the other accused, an inspector with the BMC's vigilance cell, encouraged payment of the bribe to Bane, but the charge was not proved and hence the court acquitted him.

Judge Amit Shete noted that the charges against Bane have been proved for which he needs to be convicted and sentenced.