Maharashtra: Civic body's tax official gets 4-yr imprisonment in bribery case

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A court in Maharashtra's Thane district has sentenced a tax official with the vigilance cell of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to four years' imprisonment for taking a bribe of Rs 3 lakh from an octroi agent.

In the order passed on Wednesday, Special Judge Amit Shete, hearing cases pertaining to the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), also imposed a fine of Rs 20,000 on the accused, Sunil Bane.

Another person accused in the case was given the benefit of doubt and acquitted by the court.

The prosecutor told the court that the accused, who worked as the deputy tax assessor and collector with the BMC's vigilance department, had made a demand of Rs 3 lakh as bribe from the octroi agent whose trucks were seized for alleged evasion of octroi, to reduce the penalty on it and not to initiate any action against him.

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Following a complaint by the octroi agent, the ACB laid a trap on June 18, 2014 and caught Bane red-handed while accepting the bribe amount from the complainant.

The prosecution alleged the other accused, an inspector with the BMC's vigilance cell, encouraged payment of the bribe to Bane, but the charge was not proved and hence the court acquitted him.

The judge in his order noted that the charges against Bane have been proved for which he needs to be convicted and sentenced.

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