Palghar: 45-year-old audit officer held for taking Rs 2,000 bribe

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The Anti-Corruption Bureau has arrested a 45-year-old audit officer of the Palghar Zilla Parishad's audit department in Maharashtra for allegedly taking a bribe of Rs 2,000 from a contractor's representative for certifying work payments, the ACB told news agency PTI.

The representative of the contractor, who carried out works on water supply projects, had submitted bills for the same.

Ramesh Gole, an assistant auditor with the Palghar Zilla Parishad's audit department, allegedly demanded Rs 2,000 from the representative to process the bills and submit them for payment, Deputy Superintendent of Police (ACB-Palghar) Dayanand Gawde said in a release, reported PTI.

The contractor's representative lodged a complaint with the Palghar ACB unit which laid a trap at the Zilla Parishad audit office on Tuesday afternoon and nabbed the accused while accepting the bribe amount from the complainant, the official said, reported PTI.

An offence was registered against the accused under the Prevention of Corruption Act at Palghar police station, he added.

Meanwhile, The police have registered a case against two persons for negligence, more than two months after a contractual worker fell to his death in a factory in Maharashtra's Palghar district, an official told PTI on Wednesday.

According to PTI, on June 2, victim Mohammad Firoz Nayeem Khan (31) was handling cement sheets at a height in a factory in Boisar Industrial Area when he fell down and died.

The police initially registered a case of accidental death and sent his body for post-mortem, the official told PTI.

After receiving the post-mortem report, the police on Tuesday registered a case against the contractor and a supervisor for negligence and other charges under the Indian Penal Code, the official told PTI.

The police said the contractor, identified as Rakesh Lallan Bind (36), had not provided any safety gear to the victim despite sending him to work at a height, reported PTI.

The FIR (first information report) also says that Bind did not have a work permit from the company for the job. The supervisor has been identified as Abhishek Singh (41).

No arrests have been made yet, the official told PTI.

(With inputs from PTI)