Anti‑Corruption Bureau Cracks Down: Two Pune Cooperative Officials Arrested Over ₹8 Crore Bribe Demand

From a Pune society,Two officials of the cooperative department, a liquidator and an auditor, were caught red-handed by ACB while accepting ₹30 lakh  the first installment of a demanded ₹8 crore bribe

Pune, 6 December 2025: In a major anti-corruption operation, the ACB on Friday arrested two individuals Vinod Manikrao Deshmukh (liquidator) and Bhaskar Rajaram Pol (auditor)  on charges of demanding a total ₹8 crore bribe from a cooperative society in Pune. The pair was apprehended while accepting ₹30 lakh as the first instalment during a trap laid by the bureau.

According to the ACB’s complaint, the cooperative society in Pune’s Dhankawadi area had 32 members. The demand for the bribe arose when the society members sought share certificates: Deshmukh allegedly asked for ₹3 crore for issuing the certificates, while an additional ₹5 crore was demanded for permission to sell the society’s land.

The complaint was lodged on 5 December 2025. ACB verified the demand and set up a sting operation. When Deshmukh and Pol visited the complainant’s office in Shanivar Peth and accepted ₹30 lakh in cash, officials arrested them on the spot.

ACB superintendent in charge of the operation confirmed that this appears to be the first case in Pune where such a massive bribe  demanding several crores  has been exposed in a cooperative-society land and share-certificate matter.

The arrests have triggered strong reactions among members of the cooperative movement and local civic activists, who demand a thorough investigation into all pending cooperative-society transfers and share-issuances across Pune.

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