Mobilenews24x7 Bureau
Changing with the time the culture of bribe which is as old as human survival has made a paradigm shift. Cash or no cash but a Black Dog whisky a must.
The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) of Jalna in Maharashtra has detected and cracked dual wacky cases of a bribe demand by two public servants, including a woman — booze in lieu of cash!
The strange complaint against the two Gram Sevaks emanated from a village falling under the jurisdiction of Badnapur Police Station, said a top ACB Jalna officer.
The matter involved sanction of government funds for construction of a local amenity which would require the clearance of the concerned block development officials, and happened on June 20.
The complainant, who happens to be a village Sarpanch (Headman), approached the two Gram Sevaks for the needful when they made a bizarre demand to get the work done – “Rs 7000 cash plus 2 bottles of Black Dog Scotch Whisky”.
Taken aback, the Sarpanch promptly approached the ACB Jalna with his grievance, after which the ACB registered a complaint and then swung into action, said Deputy Superintendent of Police (DySP) Kiran M. Bidve.
“Our team waited patiently for several days and then at the right moment, laid a trap and apprehended the two Gram Sevaks red-handed and arrested. They are: Pushpa M. Ambulge, 40, and Siddhartha K. Ghodke, 42, red-handed while accepting the two large bottles of the premium imported spirits, yesterday,” DySP Bidve told IANS of the successful operation.
The probe revealed that the Sarpanch had completed an underground drain work for the village at a cost of around Rs 1.48 lakh, including the labour and material charges.
The amount would be reimbursed by the local BDO officials, coming under the district administration, for which the two Gram Sevaks allegedly demanded the ‘spiritual’ bribe instead of the usual all-cash payoff.
The woman accused, Pushpa Ambulge, spun a spirited yarn to the Sarpanch that for sanctioning amounts over Rs 1,00,000, the kickback amount would be in the range of 10-11 per cent, or around Rs 11,000.
She told the complaint that if he could not arrange the full amount right away, he should immediately procure two bottles (‘khamba’) of the Black Dog Scotch whisky as a ‘down payment’ for the top officers to get his files moving across departments and desks.
Seeing the complainant’s reluctance over the strange payout, she assured that the whisky amount would be deducted from the total bribe and even spilled out details of the breakdown — how the money would be distributed to grease all the palms.
The woman official revealed the alleged ‘under-the-table menu-card rates’ — the BDO usually skims off 4-5 per cent for sanctioning amounts of Rs 1,00,000 and above, the officers below him take their share of 1.5-2.0 per cent, and then were other ‘wolves’ like clerks and peons who gobble up half-a-per cent of the total payout.
In the current case, the bribe had a dual component — cash-cum-foreign liqour — which shocked even the ACB officials, admitted DySP Bidve with a smile.
The ACB action has rattled and sobered the entire lower officialdom in the district as the expose is damning — pointing fingers at the grassroots level administration — and providing an inkling of the hardships the rural folks endure.
