A 57-year-old branch engineer with the Public Work Department in Kalyan was arrested for taking a bribe of Rs 1 lakh. The police said the accused took the cash for issuing an evaluation certificate.

The police said the arrested accused is identified as Avinash Pandurang Bhanushali 57, a branch engineer (class-II official) with PWD.

The police said the complainant is a 32-year-old lawyer. The lawyer claims his client owned land on Mumbai-Baroda highway. "The client wanted an evaluation certificate for the highway property. The certificate is provided by the PWD department. However, the complainant claims to issue the certificate the accused engineer took Rs 4 lakhs on September 9. And demanded Rs 1 lakh, which he accepted in his Kalyan office on Monday," said a police officer from ACB, Thane.

A case has been registered at Mahatma Phule police station in Kalyan under relevant sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988. "We have arrested the accused, who was caught red-handed while accepting the bribe of Rs 1 lakh. We are also verifying the claims of Rs 4 lakhs taken earlier. Investigation is going on," said a police officer.

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