Will quit if any link to me is proved: Zirwal on arrest of his dept clerk over bribery

The Anti-Corruption Bureau ACB on Thursday caught an FDA clerk red-handed while allegedly accepting a Rs 35,000 bribe at the state secretariat, Mantralaya, prompting the Congress to attack the BJP-led government in the state.

Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration minister Narhari Zirwal on Friday said he would resign if any link is established between him and a clerk from his department who was arrested for allegedly accepting a bribe. The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) on Thursday caught an FDA clerk red-handed while allegedly accepting a Rs 35,000 bribe at the state secretariat, Mantralaya, prompting the Congress to attack the BJP-led government in the state. Talking to reporters in New Delhi, Zirwal said, ''What has happened is serious. The accused will have to face the consequences. He was tasked with preparing papers for departmental hearings.'' According to the ACB, the clerk, Rajendra Dherange, was caught while taking a bribe at the FDA office on the second floor of Mantralaya. He had allegedly demanded the money from a complainant who wanted his medical licence to be restored. ''You all know my conduct. I don't indulge in such things. If any link to me is proved, I will quit,'' said Zirwal, a senior NCP leader. To a question on whether he is morally responsible, Zirwal replied in the affirmative, saying that the accused will not be spared. The Congress targeted the BJP-led Mahayuti government in the state, claiming that corruption had reached the highest administrative levels of the state. In a social media post on Friday, Mumbai Congress president Varsha Gaikwad said if open bribery is happening in Mantralaya itself, citizens are left with nowhere to seek justice. She described FDA clerk Dherange's arrest as ''shocking and shameful''. Despite the government projecting itself as pro-people, files in the secretariat do not move without payment, she alleged and demanded the immediate suspension of the arrested FDA staffer. The Congress MP called for a detailed probe to ascertain whether the alleged corruption is limited to one official or linked to a wider network. She also questioned who the intended beneficiaries of the bribe were and called for the truth to be made public. A pay-and-get-your-work-done culture has spread during the present regime, she claimed, urging strict action to break this system. Hours after the ACB action on Thursday, Maharashtra Congress president Harshwardhan Sapkal had said that ''bribery and commission-taking are happening openly in the Mantralaya under the Mahayuti government''. No work is carried out without payment of bribes, Sapkal said, demanding that Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis disclose the details of the case and remove the minister concerned.

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