Mumbai/Nagpur: The BJP government in the state took a tough stand on corruption yesterday, when Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis got a senior official of Mantralaya arrested for demanding a bribe from a Wardha-based advocate.
According to the Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB), the CM called the Director General of Police (DG) Anti Corruption, Praveen Dixit himself, and told him that an official from the Law and Judiciary department, Mantralaya, was demanding a bribe from a Wardha-based advocate, who wanted permission for notary services to sell stamps, final approval for which was pending with the Legal department of Mantralaya.
According to an ACB official, acting on the complaint of the advocate from Wardha, they arrested Milind Ambadas Kadam, legal assistant with the Law and Judiciary department of Mantralaya. “He had demanded Rs 5 lakh and negotiated it to Rs 3.5 lakh and was accepting the first instalment of Rs 45,000 near GPO, CST when he was trapped yesterday,” said Dixit.
The ACB officers carried out the panchanama and were searching the Thane house of Kadam to get details of his properties. Kadam had said if the advocate paid him, he could recommend his name for the approval for notary services, sources told mid-day.
When contacted, CM Fadnavis confirmed to mid-day that he had taken interest in getting the corrupt official caught, and congratulated the Anti-Corruption Bureau for successfully carrying out the work. “I congratulated the ACB for the good work,” he said.
