The anti-corruption bureau (ACB) has calculated cash, property and investments worth '1.64 crore during a search at the Thane home of tainted Urban Development Department (UDD) deputy secretary Anandrao Jivne. He was held, along with stenographer Subhash More and section officer Udaysingh Chavan, accepting a bribe of Rs 50, 000 at the UDD office at CR2 building in Nariman Point. The ACB recovered a massive cash haul of '78.42 lakh, along with fixed deposit (FD) certificates and mutual fund investments in the name of family and relatives worth '21.74 lakh and '8.40 lakh respectively. Officers also found that Jivne owned four flats in Mumbai, Kalyan and Pune worth '46.81 lakh. “Searches are also underway at the residences of More and Chavan,” said DG (ACB) Praveen Dixit. The police will now seize the cash, fixed deposits, mutual fund certificates and inform the court about their value. The flats are, however, usually not sealed as the accused cannot tamper with or hide immovable property. “Flats are sealed only in cases where the property has a direct connection with a bribe or the primary element in a corruption case,” said an officer. The ACB had apprehended the three officers following a complaint by a deputy commissioner in the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), when Jivne had demanded the bribe amount in return for issuing a reinstatement letter that was due after the complainant’s suspension was revoked. He had earlier been suspended in connection with an alleged irregularity in a market development scheme, but was given a clean chit in the departmental inquiry that followed. Jivne had not issued the reinstatement letter — required by the concerned government body for allowing the officer to resume office — despite an official communication by PMC commissioner Mahesh Pathak to Jivne on August 8.
