NT NETWORK
PANAJI
The Anti Corruption Branch (ACB) of the Directorate of Vigilance on Tuesday caught red-handed a senior officer of the Goa Civil Service for allegedly accepting bribe of Rs 25,000 towards clearing a file pertaining to storage of explosives.
According to ACB officials, accused Sabaji shetye, Additional Collector (I) North Goa, had initially reportedly demanded Rs 50,000 per file. There were four files wherein the applicants had sought an increase in storing capacity of explosives.
The applicants were represented by an engineering consultant, Nishikant Pai Kurade, who subsequently lodged a complaint with the ACB last month, informed ACB officials. The complainant had also submitted to the ACB, the audio recording of the conversation between him and Shetye pertaining to the issue.
“Today afternoon, our team laid a trap and Shetye was caught red-handed while accepting the bribe of Rs 25,000 from the complainant,” said ACB SP Bosco George adding, “Shetye has been arrested under the Prevention of Corruption Act.”
The raid was conducted in the office of Shetye at the Collectorate building in the city by the ACB team led by SP Bossuet Silva under the supervision of SP George. While the police panchanama was in process, Shetye complained of uneasiness. As such, a doctor was called at the spot who examined Shetye.
Later in the evening, the ACB team conducted search at Shetye’s residence in Caranzalem which went on till late night.
According to information, an FIR was registered against Shetye on May 19 under the Prevention of Corruption Act but the trap could not succeed owing to some issues. However, the ACB kept the matter pertaining to the FIR a secret and finally the raid was successfully conducted on June 6, said an ACB official.
Shetye is a former policeman and according to information, before joining the Goa Civil Service, he was a head constable in the Goa police department.
Referring to the case, an ACB official said that the complainant had met Shetye in March 2017 and had a discussion pertaining to the four cases.
Shetye raised queries, which were not necessary. As such, the complainant again met Shetye wherein a demand of Rs 50,000 per file to be cleared was made, the ACB official said. Later, the complainant met the clients (applicants) of which three asked him to decide at his level, informed the ACB official adding that after a negotiation, Rs 40,000 was decided for clearing one file while for the other two files, it was Rs 30,000 and Rs 25,000, respectively.