Beed: Junior Education Officer, Teacher Caught Accepting ₹20,000 Bribe

Beed: A junior education extension officer and an assistant teacher were caught red-handed by the Jalna unit of the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) on Wednesday afternoon while allegedly accepting a bribe of ₹20,000 at the Block Resource Centre in Kaij.

The accused have been identified as Dattatraya Murlidhar Chate (56), a junior education extension officer at the Kaij Panchayat Samiti, and Jaiguru Shivaji Giri, an assistant teacher at the Zilla Parishad Primary School in Tandale Vasti, Kaij tehsil. Both are reportedly hearing- and speech-impaired.

According to ACB officials, a departmental inquiry was underway against a local schoolteacher. Chate allegedly demanded ₹20,000 to prepare a favourable inquiry report and ensure that it was not forwarded to higher authorities for disciplinary action.

Unwilling to pay the bribe, the complainant approached the Jalna ACB unit.

After verifying the complaint, the ACB team laid a trap at the Block Resource Centre in Kaij at around 3pm on Wednesday.

During the operation, Giri allegedly accepted the marked currency notes worth ₹20,000 from the complainant on Chate’s behalf and handed them over to him. ACB sleuths lying in wait immediately moved in and caught both suspects red-handed.

The process of registering a case under the relevant sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act was underway at Kaij police station late on Wednesday night.

The operation marks the second major anti-corruption trap in Kaij taluka in just eight days. Earlier on October 8, a talathi posted at Umri was arrested while allegedly accepting a bribe.