Akola:
The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) on Thursday arrested two Class 1 officers for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 2 lakh to approve payment of salaries as per the Seventh Pay Commission to employees of the Department of Cooperative Societies here in Maharashtra, an official said.
The ACB laid a trap to nab the officers, identified as district’s deputy registrar of cooperative societies Pravin Lokhande (42) and assistant commissioner of sales tax department, Amar Sethi, an official release said here.
On June 10, a taluka-level employee of the Department of Cooperative Societies lodged a complaint against the two officers, it said.
In his complaint, he told the ACB that Lokhande and Sethi, both Class 1 officers, were demanding a bribe of Rs 5 lakh to clear a proposal to pay salaries to taluka-level Department of Cooperative Societies employees as per the 7th Pay Commissions and also the pending arrears, it said.
Acting on the complaint, ACB sleuths laid a trap and caught Sethi accepting Rs 2 lakh, a part of the bribe money, from the complainant at the former’s home where Lokhande was also present, the release said.
Both officers were arrested from Sethi’s house and an investigation into the matter was underway, said S S Memane, deputy superintendent of police (ACB-Akola).
