Aurangabad, Feb 22:
The anti-corruption bureau (ACB) has today arrested a senior clerk of Aurangabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) for demanding a bribe of Rs 10,000 to evade re-evaluation of property tax. Jinsi police station has registered an offence
against Sohel Pathan Faiz Ahmed Pathan (52, Nawabpura).
Pathan is working in the property tax section at AMC's ward office situated at the old Central Octroi Checkpost (near N-6 Cidco). The accused visited the house of complainant in December 2021 and told him that the previous property tax levied upon his property was wrong, therefore, it has to be revised. The complainant said to him that the tax was levied as per the norms and he also pays the property tax regularly to the AMC. However, with an intention to mint money, Pathan again visited the complainant's house to re-evaluate the property. He demanded a bribe of Rs 10,000 to avoid the measurement. The complainant was in no mood to grease his palms, as a result, he lodged a complaint with the ACB office on December 16. On the same day, the ACB office made the complaint to contact the accused again for verification of the allegation. Pathan again demanded the bribe. Later on, he smelled a rat and avoided accepting the bribe from the complainant. However, the ACB team detained Sohel and later on filed a case against him at Jinsi police station. Today's action was taken by the ACB's police inspector Reshma Saudagar and her team comprising Ravindra Kale, Bhimraj Jivade, Vinod Aghav and Chandrakant Bagul.