Maha ACB books CIDCO official for taking bribe to allot land

A senior CIDCO official was today booked for allegedly taking a bribe of Rs 6.5 lakh to allot a plot of land to a developer, police said.

Priyadarshan Waghmare, an associate planner with City and Industrial Development Corporation, a Maharashtra government body, was booked by the ACB under relevant sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act, police said.

An official said that Waghmare, in August 2017, had demanded Rs 7 lakh from a developer to allot a plot in Sector 20 of Roadpali area in Panvel.

The builder gave Rs 6.5 lakh to Waghmare in September last year but soon realised that the plot in question had been allotted by CIDCO to one Farhana Mulla, the official informed.

"The developer wanted his Rs 6.5 lakh back and Waghmare returned Rs 2.5 lakh but had kept Rs 4 lakh pending. After repeated attempts to get back his money failed, the developer approached ACB," the official said.

An offence was registered against Waghmare today by the Navi Mumbai unit of the ACB but he had not been arrested yet, an official said.