Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar:
The anti-corruption bureau (ACB) sleuths caught red-handed a lady talathi while accepting a bribe of Rs 3,000 in her office at Shekta on Tuesday. The talathi has demanded a bribe of Rs 10,000 to transfer a portion of the ancestral property in the name of the complainant. The trap was laid by Jalna ACB officials.
The case has been registered against the talathi Savita Pradeep Patil (30, Talathi Saja - Shekta in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar) with Karmad police station.
According to the ACB’s sub-divisional officer (SDO, Jalna) Sudam Pachorkar, the complainant is a farmer and his parents own six and a half acres of land at Karanjgaon Shivar. Out of it, a piece of land admeasuring 68 gunthas was to transfer in his name as per legal heirship.
The talathi Savita demanded a bribe of Rs 15,000 for the work. Later on, the deal was fixed at Rs 10,000 through negotiation. The complainant paid Rs 5,000 to the talathi one and a half months ago. However, she was insisting to pay the remaining bribe money for the past few days. The complainant was not having money, therefore, he decided to sell his cotton crop and give the money, but the impatient talathi was not ready to wait and told him to arrange for money anyhow. The harassed farmer then contacted Jalna ACB and lodged the complaint. Acting upon the plaint, the ACB laid a trap and arrested the talathi in her own office while accepting the bribe of Rs 3,000.
The action was taken by the team comprising Pachorkar, head constable Gajanan Ghaiwat, Ganesh Bujade, Krishna Dethe, Ganesh Cheke and Pravin Khandare under the guidance of the superintendent of police (SP) Sandeep Aatole and additional SP Vishal Khambe.
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It may be noted that the talathi despite taking half of the bribe money has not initiated the mutation process. It is learnt that the official mutation of the property and the distribution of ancestral property claimed under heirship does not need any charges.