Palghar, Sep 27 (PTI) Two forest officials from Maharashtra’s Palghar district have been arrested for allegedly demanding and accepting bribe from a complainant after threatening to take action against him, the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) said on Friday.
One of the accused, Pannalal Dinkar Beldar (35), is a forest guard and the second official, Pankaj Shantaram Saner (45), is a ranger, said Harshal Chavan, deputy superintendent of police of ACB in Palghar district.
The ACB official said the complainant, who owns a chawl along the Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway, was changing the entrance to his property in the opposite direction for easy access, but the two officials accused him of encroaching upon forest land.
Saner on September 16 demanded Rs 2,40,000 from the complainant to not act against him. He paid Rs 90,000 to the accused duo the same day, said the official.
The complainant then approached the ACB, which laid a trap and nabbed the two on Thursday after Beldar accepted Rs 40,000 as part of the bribe, he said.
The Valiv police have booked the two under the Prevention of Corruption Act, he added. PTI COR NR
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