A public works department (PWD) executive engineer from Aurangabad was arrested while accepting a bribe of `50,000 from a contractor on Tuesday afternoon in Aurangabad. The Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) sources said that the executive engineer, Gajanan Shankar Khade, (57) accepted the bribe in Yog Construction office near Dr Ambedkar University.
The complainant ,Jaiprakash Shankarrao Narnavre ,(40) is a contractor. He had received a PWD (west zone) contract to construct a psychology and culture building for the university in 2012.
He had presented a bill for `76 lakh to PWD out of which `38 lakh was paid. Khade allegedly demanded `1 lakh as bribe to release the remaining amount. The ACB confirmed the demand by sending its panch (witness) where Khade demanded `50,000.
The ACB then laid a trap near the office where Khade was to come to receive the bribe. He accepted the amount at 11.35 am on Tuesday and was promptly nabbed.
Cases under Anti Corruption Act 1988 Sections 7,13(1)(D) along with 13(2) were registered in Begumpura Police Station, Aurangabad City.
The trap was laid on the directions of ACB superintendent S.D. Baviskar by deputy superintendent of police Suresh Wankhede, PI Shamsundar Kauthule and others. Further investigations are underway.
Executive engineers seem to be coming under the ACB onslaught these days. On September 12, a junior engineer helped trap an executive engineer of the irrigation department while accepting a bribe. The ACB arrested the accused, Uttamrao Anandrao Birare, in Nandurbar district of Nashik division for a bribe of `3,000.
On April 30 this year, the ACB arrested Satish Madhukarrao Chiklikar, an executive engineer in the PWD, for demanding `22,000 from a complainant who was requesting for his bills that amounted to `3,86,916.
Chiklikar had demanded the bribe of `22,000. He accepted the bribe through Jagdish Magan Wagh, branch engineer in Trimbakeshwar sub-division.