Sarpanch booked, panchayat member arrested for taking bribe from scrap dealer in Vadgaon Maval

A primary investigation was done on October 28 and on that day the two settled for ₹1,00,000, read a statement from the ACB Pune unit

PUNE The sarpanch of a village in Vadgaon Maval was booked and one panchayat member was arrested for demanding a bribe of ₹1 lakh from a scrap dealer in exchange for letting him operate his business.

The sarpanch of a village in Vadgaon Maval was booked and one panchayat member was arrested for demanding a bribe of ₹1 lakh from a scrap dealer in exchange for letting him operate his business. (REPRESENTATIVE PHOTO)

The investigation was conducted and a trap was set by the Pune unit of the Anti-corruption Bureau (ACB) on Sunday.

The two have been identified as Santosh Popat Shinde the sarpanch of Sate village gram panchayat in Vagaon Maval area of Pune and Hrushinath Maruti Agalme, a member of the gram panchayat of the same village. While Agalme was arrested, the sarpanch is yet to be arrested in the case.

A complaint in the matter was lodged by a 53-year-old man who owns a scrap shop in the village.

“The complainant has a shop registered in his wife’s name and the villagers had submitted a complaint in the gram panchayat officer against the shop. To keep the shop functional, he required a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the gram panchayat and for that the two demanded ₹1,25,000. A primary investigation was done on October 28 and on that day the two settled for ₹1,00,000,” read a statement from the ACB Pune unit.

Agalme called the complainant along Kanhe phata and was caught accepting the money behind a restaurant premises.

A case was registered under Sections 7(a) and 12 of the Prevention of Corruption Act was registered at Vadgaon Maval police station.