Ahmedabad: Within hours of being arrested in a Rs 36,000 bribery case, Ahmedabad chief fire officer Amitkumar Dongre was sacked by Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) late on Friday.Dongre, 47, who was appointed Ahmedabad’s chief fire officer two years ago, was still on probation. The civic body acted after Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) officers arrested him and an alleged middleman, Bhavsinh Zala.According to ACB, the complainant works as a fire-safety officer and provides services to buildings in Ahmedabad. He had submitted applications on the Gujarat govt portal seeking fire-safety NOCs for six buildings.Zala allegedly demanded Rs 6,000 for each NOC, taking the total to Rs 36,000. The complainant then approached ACB’s Vadodara City police station.Acting on the complaint, the agency laid a trap on Aug 7 in the presence of two govt witnesses. ACB said Zala spoke to the complainant about the payment and was caught accepting Rs 36,000.Zala subsequently called Dongre and allegedly confirmed that he had received the money. The conversation indicated that Zala had demanded and accepted the bribe at Dongre’s instance, according to the ACB.The agency arrested both men after the operation, following which AMC terminated Dongre’s services. ACB also seized Rs 1.1 lakh in cash from Dongre’s residence and froze three of his bank accounts and a locker.A local court remanded both accused to four days in police custody until 5pm on Aug 12. Investigators are also probing a potential nexus involving private fire safety officers (FSOs), who allegedly collected bribes from builders on behalf of fire officials to get no-objection certificates issued.
