Wani :- Gautam Kumar Bhasutkar Sub Area Manager, Ghonsa, Wani North Area, was caught red handed By the CBI on a tip off given by a transporter company owner running his Transport company named Shree Transporters. Based on his tip the CBI set up a trap to apprehend the officer red handed, while accepting the bribe of 1 lakh at his residence.
The transporters claimed that Bhasutkar was making their lives miserable by asking for bribes on each load that the transporter was to carry. So adamant was he asking for a bribe that if a transporter failed to pay him the demanded amount, then he would confiscate the left over coal that was to be picked up in a stipulated time frame but was not picked up in the mentioned time frame. Not only this he even used to give substandard coal load to the transporters who failed to bide by his unreasonable and ever-increasing demands for money for each load they ferried.
The transporters were not given that portion of coal which they failed to collect in the stipulated time frame and on top of that he also deducted 20% of the value of the refund amount as a penalty for not lifting the coal. Moreover, he was very partial towards those who failed to pay him the bribe from time to time, by delaying their pick up on some pretext or the other and this way ensured that the transporter failed to pick up the assigned load in the stipulated time frame. Also, the best quality coal was given to those who paid up the demanded amount, and the inferior quality was given to those who failed to oblige him.
The transporters also mentioned that they had earlier raised the issue with the CMD also, but the corrupt officer at the weighing scale (kata Babu, wasn’t the main culprit but was just a sidekick dancing to the tune of the sub Area Manager) and also furnished a video of him accepting bribe, but no conclusive or a bold decision was taken by the CMD by initiating a full scale enquiry and nailing all those who were involved , but instead just posted out the Kanta Babu. Transporters claim that had the CMD taken some bold steps then this blatant act of demanding bribe from each coal transporter for every load that they ferried, might have stopped permanently and long back.
The agitated Transporters further revealed that Kanta Babu is just a pawn, the actual leader is the Sub Area Manager, under whose instructions the trio of Manager Ambekar, Nodal officer and Kanta Babu functioned. Later on, the entire collection of the amount of the bribe thus collected was distributed amongst the four. There is much to the story ahead that NT team will disclose very soon to its readers. But the saying fits here perfectly that “people involved in the coal business cannot have white collars”.
Till this story was being drafted CBI inquiry was in full swing and further probe in this matter was being initiated.
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