BJP corporator gets 5 years in jail for accepting ₹50,000 bribe

Varsha Bhanushali, 43, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) corporator in the Mira-Bhayander Municipal Corporation (MBMC), was on Wednesday sentenced by an Anti-Corruption

Varsha Bhanushali, 43, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) corporator in the Mira-Bhayander Municipal Corporation (MBMC), was on Wednesday sentenced by an Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) court in Thane to five years in jail and also fined her ₹5 lakh for accepting a bribe of ₹50,000 from an industrialist.

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She was arrested by ACB in 2014.

Bhanushali, from Mehsana, Gujarat, was the corporator from ward-4 (Hanuman Nagar-Narmada Nagar area).

She had demanded a ₹1.60-lakh bribe from an industrialist to grant permission to extend the height of an industrial unit in Bhayander (East).

The victim complained to ACB, Thane, and on June 6, 2014, Bhanushali was caught accepting ₹50,000 as the first instalment of the bribe.

She was remanded in police custody by the court for four days and then released on bail.

Bhanushali is a three-time corporator, having been elected in 2007,2012 and 2017.