1,593 corrupt govt officials held last year, says ACB

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MUMBAI: Anti-corruption bureau (ACB) officials in the state have nailed 1,593 government officials indulging in corrupt practices in 2015.

A total of 1,234 corrupt people were arrested in corruption cases last year, according to the ACB. Also, the number of traps laid out by the ACB is about as many laid last year – 1,245 cases.

According to the ACB, 1,234 bribery cases that were registered in 2015 involved money and property worth Rs2.46 crore. In these cases, 78 class1 officers were arrested from various departments.

Revenue and police departments top the list with most number of corrupt personnel.

Apart from action on the corrupt babus, the ACB units across the state registered 45 cases of disproportionate assets and other corrupt practices against 119 corrupt government personnel involving property worth Rs16.91crore. Last year, the agency had recorded 71 such cases.

The Pune range of the ACB topped in the state for laying the maximum number of traps, followed by Nasik, Aurangabad and Nagpur ranges.

ACB officials said that since past two years, their units across the state have been acting promptly on every complaint made to them and also since senior ACB officials ensured that the traps laid are foolproof, their success rate has cases shot up in the past two years.

The department is also ensuring an improvement in conviction rate.

In 2015, there were 120 convictions as compared to 70 in the previous year.

According to officers from the ACB, after director gener al of police Pravin Dixit took charge of the department in 2014, he brought many chang es in the functioning of the department, and these changes are now yielding results.

After he was promoted from ACB chief to DGP state police in 2015, the ACB chief Vijay Kamble, continued the initiative in the department to ensure consistent positive results.