The city civic body corporator’s wife, his housemaid and a junior engineer were arrested, for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs. 28,000 on two different occasions, the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) said.
BJP corporator Mahant Choube’s wife Urmila and his house maid Geeta Yadav, as well as junior engineer Anand Rai were apprehended from Choube’s house at Antop Hill in central Mumbai, an ACB official said.
According to the police, the complainant had built a shanty at Wadala area. The civic body’s ‘F-North’ ward junior engineer Rai visited the site and demanded a bribe of Rs 8000, alleging that the structure was “illegal” and he would not initiate any “action”, if the amount was paid.
The complainant paid Rs 8000, but after a few days, the engineer approached him once again, demanded Rs 10,000 as a bribe and asked him to meet corporator Mahant Choube too.
On March 20, the complainant met Mahant, who also sought Rs 20,000 to refrain from initiating any action against the structure, the police said.
As the victim did not wish to shell out more money, he complained to the ACB. The police asked the complainant to visit the corporator’s house with money as per Mahant’s directions.
Today, the complainant went to Mahant’s house, where the corporator’s wife Urmila asked him to hand over Rs 20,000 to their maid Geeta at a time when engineer Rai also visited the house, after which the ACB arrested them for accepting bribes.
The corporator is still at large, the police said, adding that further investigation is on.
