Mumbai: A Maharashtra revenue department official and his two associates were arrested for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 23 lakh near his South Mumbai office today, according to the Anti Corruption Bureau.  

The accused were identified as Sanjay Suradkar (45), a Desk Officer with Revenue department, and two middlemen as Vaibhav Andhale (23) and Devidas Dahifale (23), who are private individuals, an ACB official said.  

Police said the complainant in the case was a property dealer who has a power of attorney of a disputed 18-acre land in Pune.

The dispute was brought before the Revenue Department for hearing, which gave an order in favour of the victim.  However, to get the order copy, the victim was told to cough up Rs 25 lakh by Andhale, an agent.  

The complainant reluctantly agreed to pay the amount and informed the ACB.

Accordingly, a trap was laid near Revenue Office at World Tower building in South Mumbai when Andhale took first installment of Rs 23 lakh from the victim and handed over Rs 1 lakh to Suradkar and Rs 50,000 to Dahifale as their share, police said.

The accused were then caught with Rs 23 lakh cash and placed under arrest as per relevant sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act, the official added.