Two officials of irrigation department caught accepting bribe

Aurangabad, July 25:

Two employees of the irrigation department were caught red-handed by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) on Saturday night while accepting a bribe of Rs 10,000 from an employee for getting transferred at a desired place. A case has been registered against both the officials. The female officer in the case has absconded.

According to information, an employee of the irrigation department in Jalna had applied for a request to transfer to Aurangabad. A bribe of Rs 10,000 was demanded from the employee to approve the request. As he did not want to pay the bribe, he lodged a complaint with the ACB Aurangabad. After verifying the complaint, the ACB officials set a trap in the premises of the irrigation department at 11.30 am. However, the officials kept on evading the officials. But the trap was successful at 4.30 pm. Senior clerk Mansub Ramrao Bawaskar (57) working in the superintendent engineer office, irrigation department was caught accepting the bribe. Also, Sanjeevani Garje (57), an officer of the assistant engineer class-1, supported Bawaskar to take bribe. Bawaskar was brought to the ACB and a case was filed in the Vedantnagar police station against the two officials. The action was taken by a team of inspector Shubhangi Suryawanshi, constable Ravindra Kale, Rajendra Sinkar, Ashok Nagargoje and driver Changdev Bagul.

Notice to the female officer

Bawaskar was remanded to two day police custody by the court. Another accused Sanjeevani Garje, was issued a notice to appear in court. However, she escaped without appearing in court, ACB officials said. Doubts are being raised about how an accused, who was caught red-handed by the ACB has absconded.