Clerk arrested for taking Rs 10K bribe from asst engineer earning Rs 12K a month

Beed's ACB team nab suspect red-handed at a tea shop

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar : A 37-year-old civil engineer employed on a contract basis in the Maharashtra rural road development department was demanded a bribe of Rs 10,000 to release his pending salary for five months by a senior clerk. The engineer promptly reported the incident to the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB). On Wednesday afternoon, the ACB's Beed team successfully apprehended Shivaji Kailas Dhormare (37) red-handed while accepting a bribe in front of the Chelipura office.

The engineer, a resident of Beed, has been working on a contractual basis for 11 years under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana on a salary of Rs 12000 per month. Due to bureaucratic delays, approximately 15 months of his salary had accumulated. Taking advantage of the situation, Shivaji accepted a bribe of Rs 20,000 from the engineer, at a rate of Rs 2,000 per month, to release his pending salary for 10 months. However, he further demanded an additional Rs 10,000 for five months salary, from June to October 2023.

Frustrated by this continued harassment, the engineer decided to take action and directly approached ACB superintendent Sandeep Attole with his complaint. Acting promptly, deputy superintendent Shankar Shinde, along with his team, set up a trap on Wednesday.

Shinde set a trap at a tea stall near the Chelipura High School building, where Shivaji was to accept the bribe. As the bribe was handed over, a prearranged signal was given, and Shivaji was caught accepting the Rs 10,000. A case has been registered against Shivaji at the Vedantanagar police station. Enforcement officers Shriram Giram, Hanuman Gore, and Bharat Garde executed the operation.