Mumbai's Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) has arrested a designated officer (DO) from the Andheri East BMC ward office after his bail plea was rejected. The officer had been booked under corruption-related charges. Earlier, the ACB had apprehended two private individuals who were caught accepting ₹75 lakh as the first installment of a bribe. The accused officer had allegedly demanded ₹2 crore to legalize an illegal structure.
According to the ACB, the officer, identified as Mandar Tari, had demanded the bribe from a 58-year-old complainant, the owner of a four-story building located on plots 191 and 192 in Shaheed Bhagat Singh Colony, JB Nagar, Andheri. Tari claimed that two floors of the building were illegal and threatened action unless the complainant purchased plots 193 and 194. He assured that no action would be taken by the BMC once the deal was completed.
Frustrated by the harassment, the complainant approached the ACB on July 31 and filed a formal complaint. On August 6, during a verification exercise conducted by the ACB, Tari demanded ₹2 crore as a bribe, asking for an initial installment of ₹75 lakh. Following Tari’s instructions, contractor Pratik Pise (35) and middleman Mohammed Shehzada Mohammed Yaseen Shah (33) arrived to collect the money. ACB officers caught the duo red-handed and arrested them.
With Tari's bail plea rejected, the ACB has now taken him into custody. This case highlights the persistent corruption issues within municipal offices and the proactive measures being taken by the ACB to tackle them.