3 Pune ZP engineers held for accepting ₹1.74 lakh bribe from contractor

The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) Pune region arrested three engineers from the Pune Zilla Parishad (ZP) on Thursday for allegedly demanding and accepting a bribe from a government contractor.

The accused have been identified as Baburao Krushna Pawar (57), executive engineer (Class 1); Dattatreya Bhagwanrao Pathare (55), deputy engineer (Class 1) and Anjali Pramod Bagade, junior engineer (Class 3), all are associated with the constitution department of the Pune ZP.

According to ACB officials, the complainant is a government contractor and got a work order for the construction of two roads in Daund tehsil. After the compilation of work, the complainant submitted bills worth ₹40 lakh.

However, to release the bill, accused Pawar, Pathare and Bagade demanded two per cent ( ₹80,000) on the final bill, respectively and ₹7,000 behind each two bills, totalling ₹2.54 lakh from the complainant.

The contractor filed a complaint against the engineers with the ACB on March 3. On March 11, ACB officials confirmed that the engineers had demanded a total bribe of ₹1.74 lakh. Two days later, the ACB set a trap and caught Pawar and Pathare red-handed while accepting ₹1.42 lakh from the contractor after negotiations.

Bagade was arrested for allegedly instructing the contractor to hand over her bribe amount to Pathare.

An FIR has been registered against the three accused at Bund Garden police station under relevant sections of the Prevention of the Corruption Act.