The special court handling cases of corruption has sentenced a 58-year-old man attached to the BMC’s Solid Waste Management department to four years in jail for demanding a bribe to prepare and clear bills of a sewage worker in December 2016.
The complainant, Nandlal Harikaran Gautam, president of Manav Seva Sanstha, had obtained a contract to clean drainage lines and toilets in Bhandup West. Gautam claimed they had 12 workers under them and monthly bills were raised to the BMC’s S-Ward office for which the accused official, Rizwan Patel, took a bribe of Rs5,000 per month. Gautam claimed that he met Patel on December 6, 2016, when a demand of Rs9,000 was raised to clear the bills of the previous month. This led Gautam to file a complaint against Patel.
After the complaint, a trap was laid by the Anti-Corruption Bureau. On December 13, 2016, Gautam met Patel, who renegotiated the demand to Rs7,000, and this conversation was recorded. Later, when Gautam gave Patel the money, the latter was caught red-handed.
Patel, however contended that Gautam was fined by the BMC for not doing his work properly and was also blacklisted. He said that Gautam held a grudge against him and therefore he was falsely implicated.
The court said that there was no suggestion of forcibly thrusting the tainted money into the hands of the accused or giving the same under the guise of handing a document. It added that there is no explanation from the accused regarding tainted money being accepted and the traces of anthracene (with which the currency was laced to gather proof) on his hand.
The court therefore held Patel guilty of demanding and accepting the bribe and refused any leniency. “There is large-scale corruption and it has become a gigantic problem. Therefore any lenient view taken would become counter productive,” the court said.
