ACB yet to arrest cop accused in month-old FIR for bribery

It has been revealed that officials of the Thane Anti-Corruption Bureau have not arrested a police official of Ulhasnagar-1 police station, even after booking him on the charge of bribery. A police sub-inspector who has been mentioned as an accused in the FIR has been attending the police station every day with impunity.

Police sub-inspector Vishal Padir was booked along with an informer, who revealed that the money collected would go to the police official

Based on an FIR lodged on March 7, ACB officials had arrested constable Vikas Vitthal Munde for accepting Rs 1,000 as bribe from scrap dealer Sonu Gupta alias Bachchi. The ACB officials also booked sub-inspector Vishal S Padir and informer Dharmaraj Yadav alias Taklu in the matter. More than a month has passed since then, and Padir is still seen reporting to the police station every day, as ACB turns a blind eye to his underhand activities.

On February 28, Padir allegedly beat up complainant Gupta in the police station and took Rs 15,000 from him. After that, Padir kept demanding for another Rs 80,000 from Gupta. Gupta took a loan and paid the money, but the demands kept coming. Fed up with Padir's incessant demands, Gupta approached ACB officials and a team headed by Inspector Ujwal Arun Vaidya arrested Munde.

Munde and Taklu claimed that the bribes they had collected would go to sub-inspector Vishal Padir, as well as constables Mahale, Bhangre, Shinde and Bhere. Gupta said that Padir had threatened to frame him in a case of theft, if he failed to pay him Rs 1 lakh.

The Other Side
"The matter is under investigation. First we will arrest informer Dharamraj Yadav alias Taklu and later Vishal Padir," said an officer from Thane ACB. "If Padir's name is directly mentioned in the FIR, he should be arrested. I will look into the matter," said Raj Khilnani, director general of police, ACB.u00a0