Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's legal assistant officer has been arrested for accepting bribery on Thursday. The said legal officer has been detained for four days as Mumbai Anti-Corruption authorities carried out a search on her residence.
Ujjwala Kumbhar, 42 years old, the legal assistant officer for BMC, was caught in the act of accepting a bribe of Rs2.5 lakh from builder complainant. Kumbhar made a deal to the builder, that she will not fight back against him in the court legal case, according to DNA. However, in exchange, she demanded the said amount of money, which has been reduced to Rs2 lakh.
The Mumbai unit of the Anti-Corruption Bureau said, they already sent Kumbhar in police custody and has spent four days there. According to the ACB officer, the BMC sent a demolition noticed to Atta-Ali Mansion, which is one of the plaintiff's buildings. "The complainant had filed an appeal in the sessions court, following which the court had issued a stay order on the notice till the appeal was heard," the officer said.
Kumphar appeared in the "B" ward for BMC on Thursday's courts session hearing for the said appeal. The legal officer allegedly promised to lose and allow him to win the court case. The two entered a negotiation regarding the money and decided for money installment. The builder had recorded their negotiations through a spy pen camera, Mid-Day reported.
The complainant, who was not in favour of paying the bribe, approached the ACB and registered a complaint. The ACB, after verifying the complaint, laid a trap to the legal officer and was then arrested on evening at a bus stop near Reliance mall in Mumbai Central while accepting the bribed money.
ACB also added, they will further investigate Kumphar if she committed the same crime before. The plaintiff was a 38-year-old Masjid builder who received a notice on December 2015 regarding BMC's plans to demolished illegal buildings on the area.
