KDMC civic clerk among two held in Thane for taking Rs 50,000 bribe

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A KDMC civic clerk at the Kalyan Dombivli Municipal Corporation (KDMC) in Maharashtra's Thane district and a former worker of the civic body have been arrested for allegedly taking a bribe of Rs 50,000 for a consultant for property tax assessment, the Anti-Corruption Bureau said, reported news agency PTI.

The consultant had undertaken the task of handling property tax assessments of some flats in housing societies in the KDMC limits.

When he applied for the property tax assessments with the KDMC, the two, including KDMC civic clerk, accused allegedly sought Rs 1,08,000 from him for facilitating the assessment process, Thane ACB inspector Vilas Mate said in a release on Tuesday, reported PTI.

After negotiations, the demand was reduced to Rs 50,000.

The consultant approached the Thane ACB unit and filed a complaint.

The ACB officials laid a trap at the KDMC ward office in Dombivli on Tuesday and caught the two persons while accepting the bribe amount of Rs 50,000 from the complainant, the official said, reported PTI.

A case registered against the two accused under provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, he said.

In another case, the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) has registered an offence against an assistant commissioner of state tax and some other officers of the Maharashtra GST department for allegedly demanding a bribe of Rs 1 crore from a company's director to settle a pending tax matter, an official, reported PTI.

The offence under section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption Act was registered by the ACB Mumbai unit against Arjun Suryawanshi, assistant commissioner of state tax (investigation branch), and other officers on February 2, the official said on Monday, reported PTI.

Section 7 of the anti-corruption Act deals with an offence relating to public servant being bribed.

The FIR was registered after a letter was written by the special commissioner of state tax and chief vigilance officer to Maharashtra director general of police (ACB) seeking an investigation into the alleged corruption by officers of the investigation branch of the state tax, the official said, reported PTI.

During the probe, it came to light that Suryawanshi and his team conducted raids between July 5 and August 7 last year on a firm, which had an outstanding tax of more than Rs 20 crore, said the official, reported PTI.

Despite several reminders, the firm's director did not pay the pending tax, following which the GST department officials visited his office and residence also, he said.

On August 21, Suryawanshi allegedly sent a WhatsApp message demanding Rs 1 crore from the firm's director to settle the tax matter, said the official, reported PTI.

The bribe demand was confirmed (though no money exchanged hands) during investigation after which the FIR was registered, he said, adding further probe was underway, reported PTI.

(With inputs from PTI)