ACB sleuths arrests assistant engineer from BMC and his accomplice for taking bribe

Mumbai: The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) here arrested an Assistant Engineer of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and his accomplice while allegedly accepting Rs 5 lakh as first installment of Rs 25 lakh as bribe for granting permission to build a warehouse for goods and sailors to live on the paddy land at Sassoon Dock in Mumbai.

The arrested have been identified as Sandeep Karbhari Gite (41), Deputy Engineer, Assistant Engineer, One Ward, Municipal Corporation, Fort and Muzaffar Babu Ali Syed alias Bablu (47).

The complainant has a fishing business at Sassoon Dock. They wanted to build a godown on the BPT-owned paddy field at Sassoon Dock to store goods from the boat and to accommodate boatmen and sailors.

“The complainant had approached the Corporation’s A ward at Fort to sough permission. A contractor named Bablu, who had done many constructions in the area, was hired. As Bablu was acquainted with the officials of the BMC office, the complainant along with Bablu met Sandeep Gite, an assistant engineer in a ward on March 8”, officials said.

The officials said Gite demanded Rs 27 lakh from the complainant. Gite later agreed on Rs 25 lakh and asked the complainant to pay Rs 5 lakh as first installment. The complainant then approached the ACB office and lodged a complaint against Gite and Bablu.

After confirming the bribe demand on March 17, the ACB laid a trap and caught Gite and Bablu red handed while accepting the money.