Bribe-takers nabbed as Thane building crash toll reaches 74
08 Apr 2013
Three days after an illegal seven-storey building collapsed in Mumbai's satellite town of Thane killing 74 people, Thane Police Commissioner K P Raghuvanshi said on Sunday the police have proof that the builders had bribed Nationalist Congress Party corporator Hira Patil and others, including assistant police inspector J Sayyed to turn a blind eye to the construction.
"We found that civic officials were repeatedly bribed. Even a police constable was bribed ... After Anti-Corruption Bureau raids, we found Rs5 lakh from the residence of deputy municipal commissioner Deepak Chavan ... Hira Patil, local NCP corporator took a bribe from the accused," Raghuvanshi said at a press conference.
"A big racket has been unearthed. Builders were pushing people to stay in the building so that it is difficult to demolish the place," Raghuvanshi added.
The NCP has suspended Hira Patil, who has already been arrested with eight others.
Among the others arrested are suspended deputy municipal commissioner Deepak Chavan, assistant municipal commissioner Babasaheb Andhale, clerk Kisan Madke, and the beat ASI, identified only as Sayyed.
The arrests on Sunday were in addition to the earlier arrest of builders Jamil Qureshi and Salim Shaikh. Police are searching for another of the builders, Adnan Shaikh, responsible for the worst building collapse in Maharashtra in the last decade.
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