PCMC chief engineer taken into ACB custody over alleged Rs 45,785 bribe demand on water works

The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) has taken a chief engineer of the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) into custody on the allegation that he sought a bribe before clearing agreements for five water supply works. The works are worth Rs 91.57 lakh, or Rs 91,57,068 in exact terms. The officer, Pramod Sudhakar Ombase (also spelt Obhase in some records), 57, served in the corporation's water supply department. He was detained at about 3 pm on Thursday, October 29.

The case was registered the same day at the Sant Tukaram Nagar police station in Pimpri Chinchwad under Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption Act. The bureau acted after looking into a complaint from a contractor. Everything below is allegation, and the matter is still under investigation.

According to the complaint, the contractor had won five tenders covering upkeep and repair of the water supply network and the laying of new pipelines. Before a work order can be issued, a contractor must sign an agreement with the corporation. For these works, the agreements needed the signatures of both the superintending engineer and the chief engineer of the water supply department.

The contractor says the agreements were drawn up and signed by the firms' side, and the files were then sent to the PCMC for approval. They did not move.

The ACB document says superintending engineer Ajay Suryawanshi first asked the contractor for Rs 45,785 to sign. That sum is 0.5 per cent of the combined tender value. The contractor allegedly replied that the matter could be discussed once the work was done. Suryawanshi then reportedly signed three of the five files and forwarded them to the chief engineer.

One account of the case says the demand reached the contractor through an executive engineer, while the ACB document as described elsewhere attributes the first request to Suryawanshi, who is a superintending engineer. The filings do not settle which officer is meant.

When the three files remained pending for a long time, the contractor met the chief engineer on May 29, 2026. The ACB says he allegedly asked for Rs 45,785 at that meeting as well, again 0.5 per cent of the total value of all five tenders. The complainant says three tender proposals worth Rs 38 lakh were being held up with him and that they were told to pay a bribe to get the files moving.

The contractor approached the ACB on June 11. The bureau verified the complaint the same day. During that check, officials found evidence that the chief engineer had allegedly demanded Rs 19,000, which is 0.5 per cent of the Rs 38 lakh value of the three files lying with him. The ACB document also records that he admitted to having taken a bribe from the contractor on an earlier occasion.

The operation was led by Deputy Superintendent of Police Neeta Misal and supervised by Deputy Superintendent of Police Satish Walke. Shirish Sardeshpande, Superintendent of Police of the Pune range, gave guidance. The Pune ACB team carried out the verification and the follow-up action under senior officers.

The ACB has urged the public to pass on information about corruption and to report government employees who ask for bribes. People can call 020-26132802, 020-25122134 or 9403781064, or use the toll-free helpline 1064.