Clerk from CM-led Home department held for accepting Rs 5,000 bribe

In a major embarrassment to the Home department headed by the Chief Minster, a senior clerk of the department has been arrested by the Maharashtra Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) for allegedly accepting R5,000 as bribe from a security agency owner.

Bhimsen Devnath Tandel was caught red-handed accepting Rs 5,000 at his Mantralaya office

mid-day had reported on April 2 on how Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had intervened to get a corrupt Mantralaya official arrested (‘CM calls ACB chief, gets corrupt Mantralaya official arrested'). Ambadas Kadam, legal assistant with the Law and Judiciary department had been arrested for demanding a bribe from an advocate from Vidarbha.

But rooting out corruption might well prove to be a difficult task. On Friday, the ACB arrested Bhimsen Devnath Tandel, a senior clerk with the Home department. Tandel, according to ACB officials, was demanding a bribe of R10,000 from a security agency owner from Kopar Khairane, Navi Mumbai.

The security agency owner had applied for a licence with the Home department, but later learnt that local police commissioners had the authority to issue licences to security agencies. He wanted to withdraw his application from Mantralaya, for which Tandel allegedly demanded R10,000 from him.

"As the complainant did not wish to pay the accused Tandel, he approached us and we asked him to negotiate and they finally reached (a sum of) Rs 5,000, after which the clerk was arrested after being caught red-handed accepting the bribe amount in Mantralaya," said an ACB official.