3 MSRTC officials arrested in recruitment scam

Kolhapur, Apr 4 (UNI) Anti Corruption Bureau sleuths today arrested three Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) officials in connection with a MSRTC drivers' recruitment scam.

Kolhapur ACB officer C H Wadke said the three arrested include Kolhapur division MSRTC controller Prakash Desari, Solapur MSRTC deputy mechanical engineer Jamil Ahmed Hiraji Sheikh, and Satara MSRTC assistant traffic officer Chandrakant Nagesh Phadtare.

The MSRTC Sangli Division had recruited 145 drivers in June 2004 and, following complaints of corruption in the recruitment, the corporation had conducted a departmental inquiry and the case was later handed over to the ACB for investigation.

The investigations were carried out by deputy superintendent of police Satish Mane and the three MSRTC officials were, subsequently, arrested today. The ACB sleuths had raided the residences of Sheikh at Solapur and Phadtare at Satara, while Desai's house in Kolhapur was sealed as it was closed.

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