The Anti-Corruption Bureau has arrested an executive engineer of the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) while accepting a bribe of Rs 40,000, an official said on Friday, reported news agency PTI.

Ranjit Balasaheb Chavan (50), who works in the civil engineering department of MHADA`s Bandra division, was caught on Thursday, the ACB official said.

According to the anti-graft body, Chavan had initially demanded Rs 4 lakh to spare a person who had built an unauthorised structure at his house and runs a paying guest business. He then brought it down to Rs 2 lakh, reported PTI.

The 62-year-old man alerted the ACB as he didn`t want to pay the bribe.

After verifying the complaint, the ACB laid a trap and caught Chavan red-handed while accepting the first instalment of Rs 40,000 from the complainant, the official said, reported PTI.

A case has been registered against Chavan under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

Thane bribe case: DMC Patole, 2 others remanded in judicial custody; bail hearing on Oct 8

In another case, a court on Monday remanded in judicial custody Thane deputy municipal commissioner Shankar Patole and two others arrested in a bribery case, reported PTI.

The police custody of Patole, data operator Omkar Gaikar and one Sushant Surve ended during the day, after which they were produced in the court of the additional sessions judge SS Shinde, reported PTI.

The Anti-Corruption Bureau, which is probing the case, did not insist on police custody of the trio.

The hearing of the bail pleas of the three has been set for October 8, a court official said.

Deputy Municipal Commissioner Patole, who was heading the TMC`s Encroachment Control and Eviction Department, and Gaikar were arrested during a raid carried out by the ACB at the civic headquarters on October 1, reported PTI.

A real estate developer, Abhijit Kadam, who holds development rights for a plot in Vishnu Nagar in Naupada, complained to the Mumbai ACB that a Thane civic official (Patole) had allegedly demanded Rs 50 lakh as bribe for removing an encroachment on his premises in the city, reported PTI.

The complainant claimed he had already paid a sum of Rs 10 lakh to the official through Surve on July 4.

Surve surrendered on October 3 and was placed under arrest.

(With inputs from PTI)

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