Gondia gram sevak and husband arrested by ACB while accepting Rs 1 lakh bribe from ex-serviceman
The Anti-Corruption Bureau caught Usha Patil, a gram sevak, and her husband Ramakant Motghare red-handed on Tuesday taking Rs 1 lakh from a retired soldier seeking five acres of government land.
A woman gram sevak and her husband were apprehended by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) in Gondia on Tuesday, October 13, 2026, moments after the man took Rs 1 lakh in cash from a retired soldier. Both are now in police custody.
The woman is Usha Jayakrishna Patil, 42, the Class 3 gram sevak posted at Manegaon village in Amgaon tehsil. Her husband is Ramakant Gyaniram Motghare, 54, who holds the post of subject resource person at the Gruh Sadhan Kendra under the Salekasa Panchayat Samiti. The couple stay in Radhakrishna Colony, Chhota Gondia.
The complainant is a 48-year-old retired ex-serviceman. He had applied to the Gondia district collector for five acres of agricultural land, which the government allots to former soldiers. To move the application forward, he needed a gram panchayat resolution and no-objection certificate (NOC) papers from the village.
According to his complaint, Patil asked him for Rs 5.5 lakh, saying the money was meant for the sarpanch and the panchayat members, so that the resolution and NOC could be prepared. She is also said to have asked for a further Rs 1 lakh for herself, to begin the work.
Unwilling to pay, the ex-serviceman approached the ACB office in Gondia on October 9. The same day, the bureau checked the allegation in the presence of independent witnesses and with the help of a voice recorder. The demand of Rs 5.5 lakh was repeated, and the accused told him to bring the separate Rs 1 lakh to their house in Gondia on October 13.
The ACB then set its trap. On October 13 the complainant, accompanied by witnesses and carrying a voice recorder, went to the couple's home with the money, while the bureau's team waited close by. Patil is alleged to have signalled to her husband, who then took the Rs 1 lakh from the complainant. The waiting team moved in at once and caught both red-handed.
A case has been registered at Gondia City police station under crime number 844/2026. The couple face charges under Sections 7 and 12 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, for misuse of a public servant's position.
The action was carried out under the supervision of Superintendent of Police Digambar Pradhan of the Nagpur range, with Additional Superintendents of Police Madhuri Baviskar and Vijay Mahulkar. Deputy Superintendent of Police Nilesh Lodhi of the Gondia unit led the team. Police inspectors Arvind Raut and Umakant Ugale took part, along with constables Bohre, Kahalkar, Shende, Bopche, Katkar, Sonwane, Batbarwe, Patle and Dange, and other staff.
The bureau has urged citizens to report any public servant who asks for money to do official work, and to do so promptly and without fear. The ACB office in Gondia is on Tirora Ring Road, near the railway gate. People can call 07182-251203 or 9209041064, write to acbgondia@gmail.com, or dial the toll-free number 1064.
