Maharashtra: University staffer held for taking Rs 81,000 bribe in Raigad

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A university staffer has been arrested for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 81,000 from a contractor in Maharashtra's Raigad district, the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) told PTI on Saturday.

Based on a complaint, the ACB laid a trap and caught Omkar Ramchandra Ambpakar (55), a finance officer at Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Technical University, while accepting the bribe amount on Friday, an official said, reported PTI.

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As per the PTI report, the contractor who filed the complaint claimed that the accused official had asked for Rs 1 lakh in order to clear his payments of Rs 47.74 lakh for constructing a hall at the university.

After negotiations, he settled for Rs 81,000, following which the complainant approached the ACB, the official said. The official added that the accused has been charged under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

Meanwhile, a case has been registered against five civic officials in Thane city, Maharashtra, for allegedly forging documents to implicate a man in a false case, the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) told PTI on Saturday.

Inspector Vijay Kawle told PTI that the ACB's Thane unit on Friday registered a first information report (FIR) against five staffers of the Thane Municipal Corporation under relevant provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act and other acts.

The accused officials allegedly forged and fabricated fake documents and submitted them in court to implicate a man in false cases for monetary gains, inspector Kawle told PTI.

The matter is being investigated, and no arrests have been made so far, the official said, reported PTI.

In another incident, five boys who went crab hunting on a hill in Thane City and got lost were rescued after a joint overnight effort involving different agencies, an official said on Saturday. The lads, most of whom are about 12 years old, comprised three siblings. The rescue mission took seven hours, reported PTI.

"Five boys from Dargah Galli in the Azad Nagar area went up to the Khadi Machine area on Mumbra Hill around 5 pm in order to catch crabs. But they lost their way and raised an alarm. Some people who were passing by at that time heard them shouting for help but could not find them. They later alerted the fire brigade," Yasin Tadvi, chief of Thane Municipal Corporation's Regional Disaster Management Cell (RDMC), told PTI.

According to the news agency report, following the notice, a multi-agency search effort was begun, comprising members of the RDMC, the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), the fire department, and other organisations.

(With inputs from PTI)