Nagpur: In an action that left many of citizens in awe, the Nagpur unit of Anti-Corruption Bureau has on Wednesday
morning raided the house of former city Mayor and senior BJP leader Kalpana Pande and her sister Bharti Pande and caught them with the bribe of Rs 50,000. Both have allegedly taken this money from a retired teacher in lieu of signing her pension documents. The action has dealt a major blow to the ruling BJP in NMC. In an early morning swoop at 6.10 am on Wednesday, ACB teams simultaneously raided the houses of Kalpana Pande and her sister Bharti Pande in Hanuman Nagar and Vishwakarma Nagar, respectively.
The retired teacher had complained that Bharti Pande, Head Master at Chhanulal Navin Vidyabhavan High School, Gandhibagh and her sister former Mayor Kalpana Pande, also the member of Chhanulal Navin Vidyabhavan Teachers Education Society, Gandhibagh were allegedly pressing her to cough up Rs 50,000, if she wanted to get her pension papers cleared.
Based upon the complaint, ACB sleuths laid the trap raided at both the places and recovered the bribe amount which were chemically coated earlier. Both were arrested on the spot.
Kalpana Pande is not only a senior BJP leader but also said to be close to the Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis who has been raising his voice against corruption. The team comprising Bhawna Dhumale, police inspector Subhash Tanodkar, Dinesh Adapure, Chandrashekhar Dhok and ACB’s entire Nagpur unit conducted the raid under the directives of Sadar Police SP Rajiv Jain.
Meanwhile, Anti-Corruption of Nagpur circle has appealed to the citizens to contact ACB office if any government officer or employee demand any form of bribe from them.
