Smart City APM held while accepting Rs 40K bribe

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar:

The Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) has caught red-handed an assistant project manager (Smart City Office, Bus Division) Rishikesh Shrirang Ingle (26) while accepting a bribe of

Rs 40,000, outside the Smart City Headquarters on Friday afternoon.

He was a contractual employee and demanded a bribe to clear outstanding bills of the last four months from agency.

Sai Agency got the contract to clean the Smart City buses, but their bill was cleared for the last four months. The agency representatives were making rounds of the Smart City headquarters for the dues, but it was in vain. Ingle started to harass and then demanded a bribe of Rs 40,000 to clear the bills (@ Rs 10,000 to release the payment each month).

To get rid of it, the complainant complained to the superintendent of police (SP-ACB) Sandeep Atole. Later on, the complaint was verified by the deputy SP Sangeeta Patil.

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As per the plan, DySP Patil laid a trap outside the Smart City headquarters on Friday afternoon. Rishikesh told the complainant to hand over the money to him near the office gate at Aam Khas Maidan. Patil along with team members Vilas Chavan, Rajendra Sinkar and C N Bagul waited at a distance away from the gate. Rishikesh came and accepted the bribe money, the complaint gave a signal to the ACB team by

removing his spects and cleaning his face with a handkerchief (as was directed by ACB to him). The ACB team chased and held Rishikesh before entering the office premises.

Rishikesh is a B.Tech graduate and has been working for the past four years. He draws a salary of Rs 60,000 per month. Besides, he has been getting extensions in service regularly for the last four years. He was demanding the bribe saying that he had to share the money with the whole office, therefore, the amount would not get reduced (from Rs 10,000 per month).