Rs 18 lakh found in civic engineer’s house

Over Rs 18 lakh in cash, gold and diamond jewellery worth Rs 17 lakh, numerous bank accounts, flats, several farmhouses are some of the things that were found from one of the premises owned by Sunil Joshi – an executive engineer from Thane-Dombivli municipal corporation.

Over Rs 18 lakh in cash, gold and diamond jewellery worth Rs 17 lakh, numerous bank accounts, flats, several farmhouses are some of the things that were found from one of the premises owned by Sunil Joshi – an executive engineer from Thane-Dombivli municipal corporation.

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Joshi’s premises are being searched by the Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB), after he was caught red handed while accepting a bribe from a developer on Monday. “This appears to be just a fraction of what Joshi has actually amassed over the years,” a highly placed source in the ACB said on Tuesday. Joshi’s monthly salary is not more than Rs 35,000.

Sources said the searches are being conducted at a flat in Dombivli where Joshi’s family lives. The flat measures more than 3,000 sq ft. The cash (Rs 18 lakh) was stashed in the cupboard of one of the dozen rooms in the flats. The gold and silver jewelleries (worth Rs 17 lakh and Rs 79,378 respectively) were also found in the same house.

Sleuths found bank accounts, investment and property documents. While the deposits in the accounts are being verified with the banks, prima facie it has been established that Joshi owned four to five flats in Kalyan-Dombivli, flats in Pune and farm houses in Mahabaleshwar.

Deputy Inspector General, ACB, Mumbai, Niket Kaushik said the primary searches were conducted by the Mumbai branch. “The investigation has been handed over to the Thane unit,” Kaushik added.