Maha: Two held for accepting bribe at regional passport office in Mumbai

The Anti-Corruption Bureau has arrested an agent and a data entry operator from the regional passport office in Mumbai for allegedly accepting money to facilitate the renewal of a passport, an official said on Thursday.

The arrests came on a complaint by a resident of Maharashtra’s Ratnagiri district whose passport renewal was held up due to some mistakes in his online application, said Sunil Lokhande, superintendent of police-ACB, Thane Range.

The complainant told the anti-graft agency that the agent initially demanded Rs 1.8 lakh for the data entry operator to get the errors fixed and Rs 5,000 towards his own commission, said Lokhande.

After negotiations, the agent brought down the data entry operator’s share to Rs 80,000, he said.

The ACB laid a trap at the Bandra Kurla Complex regional passport office on Wednesday and arrested the agent, Shekar Neve, and the data entry operator, Prakash Zarimandal, while accepting the first instalment of Rs 45,000, said the official.

The BKC police have registered a case against the two under the Prevention of Corruption Act, he said.