Tea stall in Malad used for taking bribes: 2 arrested

The anti-corruption bureau (ACB) on Tuesday laid a trap at an unusual place — a tea stall in Malad — to uncover a bribery case. The agency also arrested the tea stall owner while he was accepting a ₹10,000-bribe on behalf of a civic official.

The agency later arrested the civic official, Prakash Dubey, 50, a labour contractor, attached with Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) P North ward in Malad (West). The tea stall owner was identified as 29-year-old Jagdish Patel.

According to ACB, the complainant in the case is a construction contractor, who had undertaken renovation work of a house in Malwani, Malad. Dubey, who learnt about the work, demanded a bribe of ₹20,000 to allow the renovation, citing irregularities. The complainant then approached ACB’s Worli office on January 22.

ACB officers verified the complaint, following which they decided to lay a trap on Tuesday. However, Dubey asked the complainant to hand over the bribe to a tea stall owner near his office. ACB officers caught Patel while he was accepting the money, surprising customers at the tea stall. Dubey, too, was later arrested.

ACB officers said government servants are using “third parties” to avoid legal tangles and traps.

Last month, ACB had arrested three constables attached with the Dharavi police station for allegedly accepting a bribe of ₹25,000 to allow a makeshift eatery to operate on a footpath. The bribe was asked to be handed over to a cake shop near Dharavi police station. “The law has a provision to arrest non-government servants in case they are assisting in accepting bribes. We are ensuring the traps don’t get hampered even if the government servants don’t themselves accept the money,” said an ACB officer.