Pune: EOW Officer Arrested for Accepting Rs 46.5 Lakh Bribe, Rs 2 Crore Demand Revealed
Pune: EOW Officer Arrested for Accepting Rs 46.5 Lakh Bribe, Rs 2 Crore Demand Revealed
Corruption allegations surfaced in Pune when a police officer from the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Pimpri Chinchwad Police was arrested by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) for demanding a bribe of Rs 2 crore from a lawyer and accepting the first installment of Rs 46.5 lakh.
The issue emerged from a complaint of cheating and forgery registered at Bavdhan Police Station against a father-son duo. The lawyer representing them in court had his case handled by PSI Pramod Chintamani, who allegedly sought bribes to influence the investigation. The father is currently in judicial custody following his arrest.
Initially, Chintamani reportedly demanded Rs 2 lakh to “facilitate” the matter for the lawyer’s clients. After the complainant approached the ACB, the officer allegedly raised his demand sharply to Rs 2 crore, claiming Rs 1 crore would go to his senior officer.
A payment plan was arranged, with the first installment of Rs 50 lakh scheduled for November 2 at Rasta Peth, Pune. Acting on intelligence, the ACB laid a trap and caught Chintamani while accepting Rs 46.5 lakh. Out of this, Rs 1.5 lakh were genuine notes, and Rs 45 lakh were dummy currency used in the operation.
Following the arrest, a case has been filed against PSI Pramod Chintamani at Samarth Police Station under relevant sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act. Authorities are also investigating possible involvement of other officers, given Chintamani’s claim that part of the bribe would be shared with a senior.
The operation was supervised by SP (ACB-Pune range) Shirish Sardeshpande, Additional SP Ajit Patil, and Arjun Bhosale, along with DySP Dayanand Gawde. The field team included Police Inspectors Prasad Lonare and Avinash Gharbude, and personnel Bhushan Thakur, Ravi Divekar, Supriya Kale, Praveen Taware, Vikas Adke, Deepak Divekar, and Chavan.
