Malegaon Municipal Corporation Commissioner Ravindra Jadhav and two civic officials were arrested by the Maharashtra Anti-Corruption Bureau on Thursday for allegedly demanding and accepting an Rs 80,000 bribe from a contractor seeking payment of bills worth Rs 20 lakh. Jadhav was due to retire on October 31, two days after the arrest.
The Nashik unit of the ACB arrested Jadhav, his personal assistant Nilesh Patil and the corporation’s accountant Harish Dimber. The alleged bribe was calculated at 4 per cent of the contractor’s pending bills, according to the case details reported by the bureau.
The complaint related to two works carried out for the corporation: clearing grass and repairing water pipelines. The contractor told the ACB that the three officials had sought a commission to clear the bills. The bureau said it received the complaint earlier, verified the allegations and then laid a trap on Thursday.
“The complaint was received earlier, following which we verified the allegations and laid a trap. We are investigating the matter,” an ACB official said.
A case has been registered under the Prevention of Corruption Act. The allegations have not been established in court, and the investigation is at a preliminary stage. The ACB is examining the individual roles of the three accused officials and whether the alleged demand was linked to other instances involving the municipal corporation.
Investigators have also searched Jadhav’s residence and seized electronic devices for forensic examination. An ACB official said the devices would be examined for information relevant to the investigation. “The investigation is at a preliminary stage. We will interrogate the accused to determine their individual roles and examine whether there were any other instances,” the official said.
The case involves routine civic works, but the corporation administers a substantially larger public budget. Its draft budget for 2026-27 is pegged at Rs 1,111 crore, including projected revenue of Rs 599 crore and government grants of Rs 512 crore. The corporation’s responsibilities include managing civic services and processing payments for works carried out on behalf of the city.
The arrest is the latest in a series of corruption-related cases involving senior municipal officials in Maharashtra. In October 2025, the ACB arrested Jalna Municipal Corporation commissioner and administrator Santosh Khandekar while he was allegedly accepting Rs 10 lakh from a government contractor. The contractor had also alleged that Khandekar earlier took Rs 40 lakh in connection with work orders and payment approvals.
In a separate case in August 2025, the Enforcement Directorate arrested former Vasai-Virar Municipal Corporation commissioner Anilkumar Pawar in a money-laundering investigation linked to alleged illegal construction approvals. The Bombay High Court later declared that arrest illegal and quashed the arrest and remand orders. The Supreme Court declined to interfere.
The ACB’s investigation in the Malegaon case will now focus on the accused officials’ individual roles, the seized electronic devices and whether the alleged bribery demand was connected to other municipal works. Further action will depend on the findings of the ongoing inquiry.
