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Ahmedabad: Two Aam Aadmi Party corporators have been booked and one of them arrested for allegedly demanding a bribe of Rs 10 lakh from a parking facility operator who had “encroached” on Surat Municipal Corporation land to prevent cancellation of his contract, the ACB said on Tuesday. The accused used code words like “documents” for money during mobile phone conversations with the complainant, the anti-corruption bureau said in a release. The case against them was based on evidence including “forensic voice spectrography test”.
Ward number 17 councilor Vipul Suhagiya arrested
The ACB arrested Municipal Corporation Ward No. 17 councillor Vipul Suhagiya after an FIR was lodged against him. Suhagiya’s associate and Ward No. 16 councillor Jitendra Kachhadiya was booked on Monday under provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act. ACB Deputy Superintendent of Police GV Padheriya said Kachhadiya is being traced.
The contractor had complained to ACB
It is being told that the incident came to light when the contractor responsible for managing the multi-level pay-and-park facility reported the bribe demand to the ACB. According to the police, both the AAP councilors of Surat had visited the pay-and-park facility and accused the contractor of illegally occupying a part of the land designated for a vegetable market. They threatened that if the contractor did not pay them 10 lakhs, the contract would be cancelled and legal action would be taken.
Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) RR Chaudhary, who is leading the investigation, confirmed that the ACB has collected sufficient evidence against the councillors. Chaudhary said, “The investigation led by police inspector Kalpesh Dhaduke revealed that the accused had demanded bribe on the pretext of solving the issue of alleged illegal occupation.
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