2 revenue dept personnel caught accepting bribe in Ratnagiri, arrested
ACB trap exposes alleged demand of Rs 20,000 for land record update; duo caught red-handed during sting operation
Two women staffers of the revenue department have been arrested for allegedly demanding and accepting a bribe of Rs 20,000 to update land records in Maharashtra's Ratnagiri district, officials said on Friday.
The Anti-Corruption Bureau's Ratnagiri unit on Thursday registered a case against Sanjana Nandakumar Mane (41), a kotwal talathi, and Poonam Jaysingh Gavit (37), a circle officer posted at Talwade in Rajapur, Deputy Superintendent of Police (ACB-Ratnagiri) Avinash Patil said.
According to ACB, the complainant's parents owned ancestral land in Javlethar, Rajapur, and she had applied to the local revenue office to have her husband's name officially incorporated into the land records.
"Gavit initially demanded Rs 25,000 through Mane to process the application and complete the task. Following negotiations, she brought down the sum to Rs 20,000," DYSP Patil said.
Unwilling to pay the bribe, the aggrieved woman approached the ACB and lodged a formal complaint.
The anti-graft squad laid a trap at the circle office on Thursday and caught Mane red-handed while accepting the bribe on behalf of the circle officer, the official said.
