Mira-Bhayandar: In a setback to the ongoing Basic Services to Urban Poor (BSUP) housing project scam investigation, an Economic Offences Wing officer entrusted with the probe, Mahendra Shellar, has surrendered before the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) for allegedly demanding a bribe of ₹50 lakh in another financial fraud case. Shellar’s accomplice, police constable Ganesh Wanve, was arrested earlier in the case but the senior officer was on the run.
The two had allegedly demanded a bribe from the complainant to avoid arrest in the case of fraud and secure bail for an accomplice who had been arrested by the Naya Nagar police last week.
“The BSUP case is being handed over to a senior officer attached to the central crime branch unit so that the investigations continue smoothly without interruptions,” said a senior police official requesting anonymity.
The BSUP probe has gained significance as it had also come to light that the accused had official lists of allotted flats and other documents related to actual beneficiaries, indicating an inside hand and political interference in the crime.
The gang members cheated the home seekers by fleecing amounts ranging from ₹7-10 lakh. Upon receiving the money, they would hand over forged documents like ration cards having the address of the tenement and the slum survey list with the name of the victim as a potential beneficiary.
