An employee of the Public Works Department arrested for accepting a bribe of Rs 4.25 lakhs from a complainant to get her bill approved through the department, was remanded to police custody for investigation till April 19.
The complainant Ashwini Borude who produced compost under the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan had complained to the Anti-Corruption Bureau that on 11 January this year, the man Prakash Parab, 46, who worked as a store keeper in the department had demanded a bribe of Rs 9.86 lakh from her to get her bill of Rs 21.93 lakh cleared by officials of the department.
On 24 March he was caught red-handed when accepting Rs 4.25 lakhs from her. A senior division clerk Birendrakumar Sinha from his department was also booked after the police came to know of his complicity. He was later released on bail.
Parab was arrested and tested positive for COVID-19 during a medical check the same day. He was then under quarantine and rearrested after testing negative. Seeking his custody, Additional Public Prosecutor Sumesh Panjwani told the court that the accused’s voice samples need to be collected and it needs to be probed which senior officials from the department are involved in the offence, as they have learnt that the accused has collected the amount for himself and others.
The ACB also told the court that a backpack with Rs 83,900 in cash was recovered from Parab and this amount too needs to be probed.
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