A village sarpanch in Thane district has been arrested after the Maharashtra Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) allegedly caught him accepting a Rs 7.5 lakh bribe linked to a mandatory guarantee letter for a lake conservation and beautification project in Karivili village, officials said.
Sanjay Parshuram Naik, 62, sarpanch of Karivili village in Bhiwandi taluka, was caught during an ACB trap on Friday, ACB inspector Pramod Ahire said, according to a report by PTI carried by Mid-Day. The allegations against Naik have not been established in court.
The case arose from a project awarded by the Minor Irrigation Department of the Thane Zilla Parishad for the conservation and beautification of Karivili lake. The project was valued at Rs 2.33 crore, according to the report.
Under the project’s funding structure, 90 per cent of the cost was to be provided by the government. The remaining 10 per cent, estimated at around Rs 23.3 lakh, was to be raised locally through public participation via the Karivili Gram Panchayat.
Before issuing the work order, Zilla Parishad authorities instructed the contractor to submit a guarantee letter from the Gram Panchayat confirming that the local contribution would be deposited in instalments. The document was therefore part of the administrative process required for the lake project to move forward.
According to the ACB, the complainant approached Naik for the guarantee letter and was allegedly asked to pay Rs 10 lakh. A portion of the amount was initially paid, but the letter was allegedly not submitted to the Zilla Parishad. The sarpanch later allegedly demanded another Rs 10 lakh, the agency said.
Following negotiations, the alleged bribe was reduced to Rs 7.5 lakh. The ACB then organised a trap and allegedly caught Naik while he was accepting the money on Friday.
The incident highlights the administrative dependence of local infrastructure projects on multiple approvals and documents, including certifications from gram panchayats and district-level authorities. In this case, the guarantee letter concerned the local funding contribution required under the project’s financing arrangement.
The ACB has registered a case against Naik under provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, as amended in 2018, inspector Ahire said. The supplied report did not provide further details about the sections invoked, the status of the alleged co-contributors or the next court hearing.
The investigation and subsequent legal proceedings will determine the facts of the case. The immediate official action reported so far is the arrest following the ACB trap and registration of the corruption case.
