Nagpur: After arresting Vijay Shravan Watkar, Secretary, Saint Ignatius Education Society, Nagpur, on corruption charges, the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) sleuths conducted searches at his house — Watkar Palace –near Bhosla Ved Shala, Mahal and seized Rs 68 lakh unaccounted cash.
Watkar (68), who works as Secretary, Saint Ignatius Education Society which runs St Vincent Upper Primary School, Uday Nagar, Manewada Road, was picked up by ACB officers after registering a case under Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption Act at Hudkeshwar Police Station on Thursday following a complaint lodged by a retired clerk of his school.
The clerk, who retired from the service in 2018, had approached Watkar to expedite the process for pension and disbursement of post-retirement dues. As nothing was done in this regard, the retired clerk moved the Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court in 2019. For filing the pursis in his favour, Watkar allegedly demanded Rs 6 lakh from him. Fed up of constant harassment by Watkar, the retired clerk lodged a complaint at the ACB office against Watkar last year.
The bureau officers verified the complaint and laid traps to catch Watkar red-handed with the bribe amount. As one of his close aides of Watkar allegedly alerted him about the complaint against him, he did not accept the cash from the retired clerk. Subsequently, the bureau officers initiated inquiries against Watkar and decided to book him for demanding Rs 6 lakh from the complainant.
Soon after taking Watkar into custody, a team comprising PI Ashish Choudhary, PI Varsha Mate, ASI Surendra Sirsat and constabulary staff under the supervision of SP (ACB) Rahul Maknikar, Additional Superintendents of Police Sanjay Purandare and Sachin Kadam raided his house and seized Rs 68 lakh cash. Further investigations are on.
