2 Ulhasnagar civic officials held for graft

THANE: The Anti-Corruption Bureau, Thane unit, arrested two officials attached to the local body tax (LBT) department of the Ulhasnagar Municipal Corporation (UMC) for demanding and accepting bribe of Rs 1 lakh on Thursday night.
Deepak Panduran Chimankar, a sectional engineer, was given an additional charge as the assistant municipal commissioner of the UMC a month ago while Parshuram Gaikwad is a LBT inspector and both were allegedly extorting money from citizens.
The duo, however, ran out of luck after demanding Rs 2 lakh from the complainant who owns a plastic manufacturing company that falls in the UMC’s jurisdiction. “The accused allegedly demanded Rs 2 lakh for leniency on the LBT collection towards the complainant. The bribe amount was brought down to a lakh,” said a police official.
“The complainant then approached the Thane ACB which laid a trap on Kalyan-Ambernath road and caught the duo red-handed,” said Datta Karale, superintendent police of Thane ACB.