Police Constable arrested for Rs 5 lakh bribe

Constable, Tulsiram Pawse, attached to Crime Branch unit at Kalyan here, was apprehended last night. Three other policemen from the same unit have been taken into custody and are being interrogated for their involvement in the matter, an ACB officer said.

The police acted on a complaint filed by Ganesh Dhone, a builder and local NCP leader. He is also a member of Nandivili village Grampanchayat.

According to the police, on November 27, Pawse, along with five of his colleagues, went to the office of Dhone and told him they had information that he possessed a revolver illegally. His office was searched and Pawse had claimed to have recovered a country-made revolver from there.

Upon this, the police team demanded Rs 20 lakh from the builder for not implicating him in the revolver seizure case. After deliberations, the amount was brought down to Rs 8 lakh, the officer said.

The first instalment of Rs 3 lakh was collected by the policemen on that day itself. Later when footage from the CCTV camera installed in Dhone's office was examined it was revealed the policemen had planted the firearm, he said.

Based on the complaint, officials of Thane unit of ACB laid a trap and caught Pawse accepting Rs 5 lakh, the second instalment of the bribe amount, the officer added.