The Anti-Corruption Bureau has arrested Sanjay Parshuram Naik, sarpanch of Karivili village in Bhiwandi taluka, Thane district, for allegedly accepting a Rs 7.5 lakh bribe linked to a mandatory Gram Panchayat guarantee letter for a lake conservation and beautification project.
The ACB laid a trap and caught Naik, 62, while he was allegedly accepting the money on Friday, ACB inspector Pramod Ahire said, according to PTI. The bureau has registered a case under the Prevention of Corruption Act, as amended in 2018.
The case arose from a tender worth Rs 2.33 crore awarded by the Minor Irrigation Department of the Thane Zilla Parishad for the conservation and beautification of Karivili lake. The project’s funding structure required 90 per cent of the cost to be provided by the government, while the remaining 10 per cent was to be raised locally through public participation via the Karivili Gram Panchayat.
Before issuing the work order, Zilla Parishad authorities instructed the complainant to submit a guarantee letter from the Gram Panchayat. The letter was meant to confirm that the local contribution, estimated at about Rs 23.3 lakh, would be deposited in instalments.
According to the ACB, the complainant approached Naik for the required document and was allegedly asked to pay Rs 10 lakh. Part of the amount was initially paid, but the sarpanch allegedly did not submit the guarantee letter to the Zilla Parishad. The ACB said Naik later demanded another Rs 10 lakh.
Following negotiations, the alleged bribe amount was reduced to Rs 7.5 lakh, the bureau said. Investigators then arranged the trap that led to Naik’s arrest while he was allegedly accepting the money. The complaint and subsequent investigation concern the alleged demand for payment in exchange for issuing the official document required for the lake project to proceed.
The episode highlights the administrative dependence of locally implemented public works on documents issued by village-level bodies. In this case, the guarantee letter was connected to the local funding component of a project being financed largely through government funds. The supplied report did not provide further details on whether the work order has been issued, whether construction has begun, or how the arrest will affect the project timeline.
The allegations against Naik have not been established in court. Further details about the investigation and subsequent legal proceedings were not available in the supplied report.
