Two people use tea stall to exchange bribe, land in ACB net in Mumbai

The anti-corruption bureau (ACB) on Tuesday laid a trap at an unusual place to uncover a case of bribery -- a tea stall in Malad that was allegedly used by a government servant to accept bribe money.

The ACB arrested the tea stall owner Jagdish Patel, 29, while he was accepting ₹10,000 on behalf of Prakash Dubey, 50, a labour contractor attached with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).

According to the ACB, the complainant in the case is a construction contractor who had undertaken renovation work of a house in Malwani at Malad. Dubey, who is attached to the P North Ward in Malad West, learnt about the renovation work and demanded ₹20,000 as bribe to allow the work citing irregularities in the renovation.

The complainant, who did not wish to pay any bribe, approached the ACB’s Worli office on January 22. ACB sleuths verified the claims of the complainant and then decided to lay a trap on Tuesday. However, Dubey asked the complainant to hand the bribe over to a tea stall near his office.

ACB officers caught Patel red-handed while accepting money surprising customers who had gathered to have tea. Dubey, too, was later picked up from his office.

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

Last month, the ACB arrested three constables attached with the Dharavi police station for allegedly accepting a bribe of ₹25,000 to permit a makeshift eatery to operate on a footpath. The bribe was to be handed over to a cake shop near the Dharavi police station in which the shopkeeper was also arrested.

“The law has a provision to arrest non-government servants in case they are assisting in accepting bribes. We are ensuring that the traps are not hampered even if the government servants themselves are not ready to accept the money,” said a ACB officer.