Clerk held for taking bribe to start grant of deaf-mute girl

A woman clerk at a revenue office here in Maharashtra has been arrested for allegedly taking bribe to re-start financial grant to a physically challenged minor girl, the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) said.

The financial benefits accorded to the girl, who was deaf and mute, were stopped earlier due to some reasons.

Her neighbour, in a bid to help her, approached Deepali Pawar (45), who worked as a clerk at the Sanjay Gandhi Niradhar Yojana cell in Ulhasnagar tehsil office here, the ACB said in a release issued on Sunday.

Pawar allegedly demanded Rs 4,000 from the girl's neighbour to facilitate re-start of the grant, it said.

The girl's neighbour then approached the ACB, which laid a trap and caught the clerk while she was accepting Rs 2,000 as first installment of the bribe from the complainant at her office on Saturday, the release said.

The accused was subsequently arrested and booked under relevant provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, it added.