Navi Mumbai – Indradev Pandey
The senior police inspector of NRI Coastal police station, Satish Kadam, was nabbed on Tuesday night by Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB), Mumbai while accepting a bribe of Rs 3.5 lakh. Kadam, who was the in charge of the building collapse that happened at Shahbaz Village in Belapur has been accused of harassing the son of one of the accused of the building collapse case for bribe, failing which he had threatened to file more cases against his father.
The ACB team had nabbed Kadam red-handed while taking the bribe at Ulwe. The inspector was caught by the ACB from outside his house at Ulwe on Tuesday night midnight following a complaint raised by the son of one of the accused. Kadam, who was the incharge of NRI Coastal police, has now a case registered against him at the same police station.
The three storeyed building -Indira Niwas- situated at sector 19 of Shahbaz village had collapsed on the wee hours of July 27. Three residents had died and around 45 people were left homeless after the collapse. After the incident, a case was registered by the Navi Mumbai Municipal corporation (NMMC) with the NRI coastal police against the developer and plot owner under section 105, 3(5), 125 (A)(B), 324(4) of Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita and section 54 of Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning Act (MRTP).
The son of one of the accused approached Anti Corruption Unit of Mumbai with the grievance that Kadam had been harassing him and his father of false cases if they didn’t pay him up. When the bail pleas were rejected at both magistrate and high court, the accused sought relief from Supreme court and was granted with 30-day protection. On September 23, after the bail protection was over, the accused surrendered himself on September 23.
Even after the accused was remanded to judicial custody in Taloja jail, Kadam continued to harass the son of the accused by demanding Rs 15 lakh bribe of which the complainant has claimed to have paid Rs 14 lakh in two installments of Rs 12 and Rs 2 lakh. Further Rs 14 lakh was demanded to not file any other case.
The complainant alleged that Kadam framed his father in another false cheating case as well and demanded Rs 14 lakh of which the complainant agreed to pay Rs 4 lakh. On Tuesday night, the complainant paid Rs 3.5 lakh while accepting which, Kadam was nabbed red handed by the ACB.
The case has been registered at NRI Coastal police station and we are investigating the case further. We are verifying the claim of the complainant about payment of Rs 14 lakh previously,” a police officer from ACB, Mumbai said. He was arrested before Panvel Court on Wednesday and Kadam has been remanded to police custody till October 14.
