Special Correspondent
Pune:
In a significant anti-corruption operation, the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) has arrested a circle officer and a middleman for allegedly accepting a bribe of ₹2 lakh and ₹10,000 respectively for facilitating the transfer of 38 gunthas (approx. one acre) of land in Maval taluka. The accused were caught red-handed on July 15, and the Bhosari MIDC Police have registered a case under relevant sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988. A court has remanded both accused to police custody.
The arrested government official has been identified as Maruti Mahadev Chormale (age 53), a Circle Officer posted in the Shivane division. The middleman, Jayesh Balasaheb Barmukh (age 33), was also booked in the case.
The complaint was filed by a 46-year-old man whose sister, along with 21 others, had collectively paid ₹1.90 crore to a builder in 2018–2019 for a land development deal in Kusgaon, Maval. However, the builder allegedly defrauded them and sold the same 38 gunthas of land to another buyer, who later applied for mutation in the 7/12 extract through the local Talathi.
The Talathi processed the mutation request and sent it for approval to Circle Officer Chormale. Upon discovering this, the original claimants, including the complainant, filed an objection. Chormale began the hearing process for these objections but allegedly demanded a ₹2 lakh bribe to cancel the new mutation and re-register the land under the complainant’s sister and the other 21 individuals. He further directed the complainant to approach middleman Barmukh for further coordination.
When the complainant contacted Barmukh, he was asked to pay ₹2 lakh for Chormale and ₹10,000 as commission for the middleman. The complainant then approached the ACB and filed a formal complaint.
After verifying the complaint, the ACB laid a trap. On July 15, Chormale was caught red-handed while accepting the ₹2 lakh bribe from the complainant. Simultaneously, it was confirmed that Barmukh had accepted ₹10,000 through an online transaction.
The operation was conducted under the guidance of Superintendent of Police Shirish Sardeshpande and Additional SP Dr. Sheetal Janve.
