In Anna backyard,in Lokpal season,a fearful babu swallows his bribe

“We need the currency notes as evidence. We hope that pieces of the notes come out due to the laxatives,” said Deputy Superintendent Satish Patil of ACB,Pune.

ACB officials had first taken Shelke to a local hospital for endoscopy,which reportedly confirmed the presence of the money. When an X-ray showed that currency notes had moved down inside the intestines,he was brought to Sassoon Hospital.

A farmer of Wadgaon Sahani village,Dhananjay Tukaram Warhadi,had purchased a piece of farm land a few days ago and applied at the talathi office for documents. Shelke holds additional charge of talathi for the village. When Warhadi approached Shelke for the documents,the official allegedly demanded Rs 2,500. The sum was brought down to Rs 2,000 after some haggling.

Warhadi lodged a complaint against Shelke at the ACB Pune office.

The ACB officer said they had the “endoscopy certificate” as evidence of the bribe,but “we also wanted the currency notes as recovery of bribe money is an important part of our routine procedure”. “He is being given dysentry medicines at Sassoon. Doctors said a lot of time has passed since he swallowed the notes,so these would not come out intact,” Patil added.

The notes,if recovered,would be sent for chemical tests. Officials are hoping to get “lucky” and get the number on the currency notes.