State ACB sees 5% marginal dip in cases

The state anti-corruption bureau (ACB) has witnessed a marginal 5 per cent decline in the number of corruption cases registered in 2019, as compared to 2018. Toeing a similar pattern, cases registered by the Thane unit have gone down from 108 in 2018 to 102 in 2019.

A cursory look at the statistical records between January 1 to December 31, 2019 from ACB’s official website reveals a total 892 cases (including 867 traps) have been registered by ACB, as compared to 936 cases (including 891 traps) lodged in the corresponding period in 2018. The number of persons caught in connection with trap cases has gone down to 1,177 from 1,181 last year. The tainted accused include 59 class I officers, 92 class II officials, 712 and 51 class III and IV staffers respectively.

Apart from this, 80 elected members and 183 mediators were also booked in 2019. Prosecution sanction orders are awaited in 90 cases. Like an annual tradition, the corrupt personnel from the revenue and police wings seemed engaged in a tough battle to clinch the top two slots. While the police topped the list with 194 traps, their counterparts in the revenue/land records wing were not far behind with their indulgence in 190 caught-taking-bribe cases ranging from a few hundred to lakhs of rupees. Around 90 traps were reported against panchayat samithi members, followed by 47 related to municipal corporations, 34 zilla parishad and even 28 staffers attached to the education wing among others who landed in ACB net last year.

Among the eight zonal divisions, Pune executed the highest number of traps (184) this year, followed by 123 traps each in Nashik and Aurangabad, and Nagpur (111) and Thane (108). ACB has also blown the lid off 20 disproportionate assets cases and seized unaccounted wealth amounting to more than Rs 11 crore. 65 cases met with convictions in 2019, as compared to 56 in 2018.