Thane senior civic official suspended after arrest over bribery

The Thane Municipal Corporation has suspended one of its senior officials after he was arrested by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 25 lakh, the civic body said on Saturday. Deputy Municipal Commissioner Shankar Patole, who was heading the TMC's Encroachment Control and Eviction Department, and a private person, Omkar Gaikar, were arrested during a raid by the ACB at the civic headquarters on October 1.

The ACB action prompted Municipal Commissioner Saurabh Rao to suspend Patole from October 2, the TMC said in a release on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Sessions Judge SS Shinde extended the police remand of Patole and Gaikar by two more days, a court official said. A real estate developer, Abhijit Kadam, who holds development rights for a plot in Vishnu Nagar in Thane's Naupada area, had complained to the Mumbai ACB that Patole had allegedly demanded Rs 50 lakh bribe for removing encroachment on his premises in the city.

The complainant claimed he had already paid Rs 10 lakh to the official. The builder was handing over another Rs 25 lakh to Gaikar in the cabin of Patole when the ACB trapped the duo and arrested them. Another accused in the case surrendered before the ACB on Friday and was subsequently remanded in police custody till October 6.

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