Programme officer held for taking bribe from farmer

Aurangabad, June 11:

The Anti-Corruption Bureau arrested a contractual assistant programme officer of the Soyegaon Panchayat Samiti red-handed while accepting bribe of Rs 2,000 from a farmer to apply online on the website for the loan amount, on Friday. The arrested has been identified as Rahul Shrirang Pawar.

According to the details, the complainant farmer's loan for digging a well was sanction in the Mahatma Gandhi Employment Guarantee Scheme in 2019-20. Pawar demanded him Rs 2,000 bribe for registering online on the website to gain the loan amount of Rs 1,29,622. However, the complainant was not willing to pay the bribe and hence, he lodged a complaint with the ACB. Under the guidance of deputy superintendent B V Gawande, PI Ganesh Dhokrat, constable Sunil Patil, Kevalsingh Ghusinge, Vilas Chavan and driver Chandrakant Shinde laid a trap at Soyegaon panchayat samiti office and nabbed Pawar while accepting the bribe amount red-handed. A case has been registered at the Soyegaon police station.