Govt official gets 3-year jail for accepting 50,000 bribe
Udaysingh Chouhan had accepted Rs 50,000 bribe from a PMC employee in 2013 while he was posted as Desk Officer with the Urban Development Department in Mumbai (Representational Image, Courtesy: Priyo.com)
A Maharashtra government official has been sentenced to three years in jail by a special court in Mumbai for accepting a bribe of Rs 50,000 on behalf of his senior.
In the order issued on April 30, the special Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) court judge S J Biyani held the accused, Udaysingh Chouhan (48), guilty under various provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
In 2013, when the charges were framed, Biyani was posted as Desk Officer with the Urban Development Department (UDD) in Mumbai.
The court, however, acquitted the then UDD deputy secretary Anandrao Jiwane and department clerk Subhash More of the bribery charges under the act.
According to the prosecution, Chouhan had taken Rs 50,000-bribe from the complainant, Laxman Damse, an employee of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), in October 2013, on the behalf of Jiwane at Mantralaya in Mumbai.
Damse and others were suspended in 2012 for some irregularities but were given a clean chit a year later. The PMC then wrote a letter to the UDD seeking its permission for reinstating them.
Damse then approached Jiwane for issuance of the reinstatement orders.
“On September 25, 2013, Damse met Jiwane at his office in Mantralaya, where the latter demanded a bribe Rs 1,00,000. Chouhan was also present there. Later, the amount was negotiated to Rs 75,0000,” the prosecution was quoted as saying.
Damse subsequently lodged a complaint with the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) against Jiwane, Chouhan and More, following which a trap was laid and Chouhan was arrested when he was accepting Rs 50,000 from Damse.
