ACB report: 56 corrupt Thane officials caught red-handed

Mumbai: Thane, an important contender in the smart city race recently came under the scanner of the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) and was declared as an extremely corrupt city with 56 officials caught red-handed in taking bribes.

Thane ranks first in corruption in the Thane range, according to the ACB report. The Thane range includes Thane, Navi Mumbai, Raigad, Ratnagiri, Palghar and Sindhudurg in its jurisdiction.

Through carefully laid traps in the city within the period of January to November this year, the ACB caught 56 corrupt officials in Thane, while only 10 officials from Sindhudurg were caught in the region's 131 ACB traps.

Raigad offered 24 corrupt officials, Palghat elicited 16, while Navi Mumbai gave up 14 officials to the corruption test.

"The reason for increase in number of traps laid by the ACB is more because there has been a sharp rise in the number of victims coming forward to file complaints against those accepting bribes," an ACB official stated.

"In addition, we have been creating awareness and taking prompt action against the wrongdoers," he added.

Another 357 officials caught from the revenue department have made it the most corrupt department at the state level, with the officials facing 278 cases against them.

The police department is no less corrupt. As many as 329 cops were arrested and 247 cases were registered against them.

Closely following are the Panchayat Samiti officials in the state rank, with 156 people caught and 123 cases against them.

In cases of disproportionate assets, the police department led with 12 cases, followed by the civic officials with seven cases. The revenue department officials faced six cases.