ACB Gujarat Nabs Municipality Engineer, Trader in Bribe Case

Jhalod: The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) on Monday caught a Jhalod Municipality engineer and a local trader while allegedly accepting a ₹10,000 bribe in connection with the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban).

According to the ACB, the complainant had been sanctioned a house under the housing scheme. The first instalment of ₹70,000 was deposited into the complainant’s Bank of Baroda account, following which the accused allegedly demanded ₹5,000 as a bribe.

After the second instalment of ₹80,000 was credited to the complainant’s account, another ₹10,000 was allegedly demanded as a bribe. When the third instalment of ₹1.50 lakh was deposited, the complainant decided not to pay the demanded amount and approached the Mahisagar ACB.

Based on the complaint, the ACB laid a trap on August 10 at Muwada Chowkdi near the Jhalod police outpost. The operation was carried out at a pan masala stall.

The ACB identified the accused as Jayeshkumar Jayantilal Patel, 35, an Affordable Housing Mission (AHM) engineer working with Jhalod Municipality on an 11-month contractual basis, and Manubhai Chandubhai Vasaiya, 49, a local trader.

During the trap, Patel allegedly instructed Vasaiya to collect the bribe from the complainant. The ACB said Patel subsequently accepted the ₹10,000 bribe in the presence of witnesses, following which both accused were caught.

The ACB recovered the entire ₹10,000 bribe amount from the accused and registered a case in connection with the incident. DeshGujarat