Surat: Two municipal corporators, Jitu alias Jitendra Panchhabhai Kachhadiya and Vipul Vasrambhai Suhagia, have been booked by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) in a bribery case. Both corporators represent wards number 16 and 17 in Surat Municipal Corporation(SMC) and belong to Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). Among both accused, Vipul Suhagia is arrested.

According to the ACB, the accused corporators demanded a Rs. 11 lakh from a parking contractor to avoid the cancellation of the parking contract and other actions. The bribe amount was later negotiated down to Rs. 10 lakh. The conversations, both in-person and on mobile phone, between the contractor and the corporators were recorded by the contractor and handed over to the ACB. The accused used the word ‘document’ to refer to the money. The contractor approached the ACB with an audio CD of the recorded conversations.

After obtaining a no-tempering certificate from the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL), the ACB also conducted a voice spectrography test of the accused and the complainant. Following a positive result from the test and the related FSL certificate, the Surat ACB police station’s inspector filed a complaint on behalf of the government against both corporators.

The complainant in this case has a contract to run the multi-level pay-and-park facility in the Magob area. The accused corporators had initially visited the parking complex and alleged that the contractor had encroached on nearby vegetable market land. The accused demanded that the contractor write an apology letter and pay a bribe of Rs. 11 lakh.  DeshGujarat

One of them arrested pic.twitter.com/603e86mTsz

— DeshGujarat (@DeshGujarat) September 3, 2024