SMC engineer, constable caught in ACB traps

Surat: The anti-corruption bureau (ACB) struck twice on Wednesday, nabbing a Surat Municipal Corporation engineer and a police constable in two trap operations in South Gujarat, exposing fresh instances of alleged corruption in civic and law enforcement offices.

In Surat, ACB officials caught Jignesh Modi, 55, an assistant engineer with the Surat Municipal Corporation posted in the Udhna Zone, while he was allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 45,000 outside the Udhna Zone office.

According to the FIR, Modi had demanded Rs 50,000 to clear payment for water pipeline-laying work and later settled for Rs 45,000. The complainant approached the ACB, which laid a trap and caught Modi during the transaction.

Investigators noted that Modi had earlier been caught in a bribery case by ACB in 2021 while posted in the Rander Zone of SMC. In that case, he was allegedly trapped while accepting Rs 15,000 to approve a drainage connection.

In a second operation, in Valsad district, ACB booked Kishore Gavit, an assistant sub-inspector, and Ramesh Bhoya, a constable, were both posted at Pangarbari outpost under Dharampur police station. Bhoya was caught red-handed while allegedly accepting Rs 5,000 on a public road near the Dharampur police station.

According to the complaint, the duo demanded Rs 8,000 from an accused in a prohibition case in exchange for not keeping him in the lock-up after his arrest and to not harass him. The complainant had reportedly already paid Rs 3,000 when he was released on bail and later contacted the accused to hand over the remaining amount.

ACB officials said the complainant spoke to Gavit over the phone, after which Bhoya was sent to collect the money. During the trap, Bhoya was held at the spot, while Gavit managed to flee.