Congress demands Maha FDA Minister’s resignation after staffers caught accepting bribe

The Congress lambasted the Fadnavis government here on Friday and demanded the resignation of Food & Drug Administration (FDA) Minister Narhari Zirwal after the state Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) sealed the office of the minister inside the state secretariat (Mantralaya) and caught two employees red-handed while taking bribes.

One of the officials, Rajendra Dherange, who was caught red-handed inside the minister’s office, said that the bribe was accepted as per the instructions of the Food & Drug Administration Minister Narhari Zirwal’s private secretary, Ramdas Gade, who has been arrested.

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Incidentally, FDA Minister Narhari Zirwal is a minister from the Ajit Pawar-led NCP.

“If any connection to me is found, I will resign 100 percent,” Zirwal said, even as Congress state president Harshvardhan Sapkal demanded, “Now that bribery has come to light in his office, he should immediately resign from the minister’s post to pave the way for a fair investigation.”

Meanwhile, Congress leader Nana Patole alleged that corruption is thriving in all the offices of the state government. “Such corruption is going on in every department of the government. However, since Narhari Zirwal is a tribal, a trap was laid on him. They are trying to show how clean they are. It is an obvious fact that no signature is made without taking money in every department of the government,” Nana Patole said.

Congress state president Harshvardhan Sapkal said, “It has once again become clear that bribery and commission-taking are going on openly in the ministry during the reign of the corrupt Mahayuti government. A situation has arisen where public works cannot be done without money, which is a very serious matter. The Chief Minister should take cognisance of the matter, inform the public, and remove the corrupt minister from his post.”

According to sources, the accused had allegedly demanded Rs 50,000 to cancel the suspension of a complainant’s medical licence, but after a “compromise”, the bribe amount was fixed at Rs 35,000. As soon as the accused official Rajendra Dherange accepted the amount in his office at around 6.06 pm on Thursday, he was arrested by an ACB team that had laid a trap for him and was waiting for him.

Accused Rajendra Dherange was produced in court on Friday. Dherange had allegedly accepted a bribe of Rs 35,000. However, after the ACB raid, another Rs 42,000 cash was found in his possession.

A person is allowed to carry only Rs 10,000 in cash through the state secretariat (Mantralaya) gate, but since the complainant in this case took all the money himself, he too will be questioned. The complainant had taken Rs 35,000 as bribe along with additional cash, and the call data records (CDR) and other technical details of the accused, Rajendra Dherenge, are being verified, sources said.