Senior Pune civic body officer, 2 other staffers held for bribe

The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) on Monday arrested an assistant commissioner-rank officer of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) and two of his subordinates for allegedly demanding and accepting a bribe of Rs 15,000 to clear the pending bills of a contractor, officials said.

The ACB registered a case and laid a trap after receiving a complaint from the 31-year-old contractor.

The accused were identified by the ACB as Sachin Tamkhede, an assistant commissioner-rank officer posted at the Kothrud ward office of the civic body, and his two subordinates - Anant Thok, a junior engineer, and Dattatray Kindare, a peon.

As per an ACB official, the complainant was seeking clearance of his bills for drainage and concretization works which he had completed for the PMC.

''Tamkhede allegedly demanded Rs 25,000 to clear the bills and later settled for Rs 15,000,'' he said.

The assistant commissioner-rank officer had asked the complainant to hand over the bribe money to Thok, who in turn, told Kindare to accept the cash, the official said.

''Meanwhile, the complainant approached the ACB and filed a complaint. A trap was laid and after Kindare accepted the bribe money from the contractor on Monday, all three were held,'' he said.