Maharashtra: Three CIDCO staffers among 4 held for bribery in Navi Mumbai

The ACB has arrested three staffers of the City and Industrial Development Corporation CIDCO and another person for allegedly taking a bribe of Rs 35 lakh from a housing society secretary in Navi Mumbai officials said on Thursday reported news agency PTIThe 54yearold complainant who is the secretary of a cooperative housing society in Vashi had a dispute with some other elected members of his societys managing committeeHe and the other members had submitted applications to the deputy registrar of cooperative societies CIDCO to dissolve the managing committee while claiming irregularities Navi Mumbai AntiCorruption Bureaus Deputy Superintendent of Police Dharmaraj Sonke said reported PTITo get the result in favour of the complainant the accused allegedly demanded Rs 5 lakh from him but later lowered the amount to Rs 35 lakh the official said reported PTIAfter a probe into the complaint the ACB on Wednesday laid a trap and arrested an office assistant a cooperative officer and a peon working at the joint registrars office as well as another person in connection with the bribery the official said reported PTIA case has been registered against the accused under the Prevention of Corruption ActFaridabad ACB arrests exBDPO contractor in Rs 28 crore embezzlement caseIn another case the AntiCorruption Bureau ACB arrested a former Block Development and Panchayat Officer BDPO and a contractor for allegedly embezzling Rs 28 crore through fake bills officials said on Wednesday reported PTIThe ACB produced both Pooja Sharma former BDPO and contractor Hiralal in a city courtHiralal was sent into judicial custody while Pooja Sharma was remanded to two days of police custody for questioning a senior ACB officer said reported PTIFollowing the FIR the government suspended Pooja However she rejoined her duties after receiving an order from the Punjab and Haryana High Court At the time of her arrest she was handling the charge of BDPO in Punhana Nuh district reported PTIAccording to ACB officials the FIR was lodged by Yashpal Yadav the then deputy commissioner of Faridabad at Sadar Police Station in Ballabgarh in April 2021 The former deputy commissioner had earlier formed a committee to investigate the matterThe FIR revealed that between January 2020 and May 2020 former Sarpanch Rani and suspended village secretary Vijaypal of Mujedi village withdrew Rs 23246767 without approval Further investigation showed that the panchayat suffered a financial loss of Rs 6901936 reported PTIIt is alleged that the former BDPO in collusion with acting Sarpanch Brahmapal and village secretary Jogendra embezzled Rs 22 crore by submitting fake bills for development work that was never carried out Of this Rs 1714 crore was paid to the contractor alone reported PTIThe case was transferred to the ACB for investigation in 2023The investigation revealed that payments totalling Rs 28 crore were found in the accounts of the contractor and his associated companies While the Panchayats account was sealed the former BDPO allegedly got it reopened at her levelThe probe also uncovered that the former BDPO had received a bribe of Rs 9 lakh for facilitating payment to Rasik Bihari Infratech and Construction Private Limited reported PTIACB officials also disclosed that the contractor in connivance with the former BDPO and the then Sarpanch of Mujedi had committed a fraud of approximately Rs 43 lakh in November 2020 under the pretext of planting trees in the villageHowever trees cannot be planted in November and December and the bills for the trees were found to be dated after June 2021We are questioning the main accused who is on two days of remand Other suspects are also under investigation said a senior ACB officerWith inputs from PTI