Anti-Corruption Bureau Deputy Director B S Vasava on Tuesday evening said this was the first time that a Class I officer of the state government from the health department has been nabbed by the Surat Anti-Corruption Bureau. He added that Parmar has been sent to judicial custody and will be produced before a magistrate on Wednesday.

A team of Anti-Corruption Bureau men, led by Vasava and PI A M Rathod and other staff nabbed Parmar red-handed with the cordless phone and powdered notes after laying a trap at his office located beside Nanpura post office. Parmar is a post graduate in Ayurveda and is head of more than 30 ayurveda clinics in the district.

PI Rathod said Parmar was approached earlier this month by Dr Maheshkumar Joshi, a class II medical officer working at the Sayla Primary Health Centre (PHC) in Nizar taluka. Joshi had requested Parmar to get him transferred to the Segwa PHC in Kamrej taluka closer to the city as he had to come to Surat regularly for medication. Joshi told Parmar that since his leg was being treated for a fracture in a road accident, he could not travel every week from Nizar to the city.

According to Rathod, the district ayurveda officer asked Rs 1000, of which Joshi could pay just Rs 500. When he approached him earlier last week, Parmar is said to have demanded the remaining Rs 500 as well as a cordless phone and it was only on Monday that Joshi approached the ACB.

Another Anti-Corruption Bureau PI L M Merujay is now investigating the bribery cases against him, the police stated.