Mumbai:The civic engineer who was arrested last week for accepting Rs7 lakh bribe from a marble trader may now also be booked for disproportionate assets. Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) officers said that Rajesh Dhole from P-north ward had self-named and
benami property worth over Rs1 crore.

"We learnt about the assets during the course of our investigations. We will be able to book Dhole for disproportionate assets once the inquiry is complete," said deputy commissioner of police Prabhakar Satam, ACB.

According to ACB officers, Dhole and his family were currently staying in a plush flat in Gautam Society at Four Bungalows, Andheri. However, during investigation they found that his wife owned a 700 square feet flat in DN Nagar.

Officials said that Dhole had allegedly bought property using his relatives names, including a flat in Kerwadi Apartment near the Andheri RTO, a house in Heena Apartment on Yari Road and two cars - Hyundai Santro and Mahindra Scorpio. He also owns a farm house, a bungalow and a brick making factory in Thane district.

The bureau is now gathering information from the registration authorities to evaluate the cost of the property. "We are also waiting to check Dholes salary details to see how he could afford all this," said Satam.

However, Dhole denied all allegations against him, claiming that he did not buy any such assets.

The BMC official, along with a junior engineer Amol Sawant, was arrested on August 14 for accepting Rs7 lakh bribe. On July 27,the duo had approached Tulsi Rajput, owner of Rajput Marble Market, Malad, saying that his shop would be demolished if he didnt pay them Rs20 lakh. After negotiations, they settled on Rs8 lakh out of which Rajput paid Rs1 lakh in advance.

Dhole and Sawant then called Rajput with the money at five different places for three days, but they did not turn up fearing that he might have informed the police. However, the duo was finally nabbed by the ACB when they called Rajput near a hotel in Malad on Thursday morning.
Source : DNA