Pimpri Chinchwad: Award-Winning Police Officer Caught Taking Rs 3 Lakh Bribe Inside Dighi Police Station
Reported by Mubarak Ansari
Dighi, 15th July 2026: The Pune Unit of the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) on Wednesday caught a 35-year-old Police Sub-Inspector (PSI) red-handed while accepting a bribe of ₹3 lakh inside the Dighi Police Station, Pimpri Chinchwad Police Commissionerate.
The accused officer has been identified as PSI Chaitali Balasaheb Gapat (Class-2), a resident of Manjari, Pune. Interestingly, Gapat is a highly decorated officer who was awarded the prestigious “Sword of Honor” as the best trainee of the 116th PSI batch at the Maharashtra Police Academy (MPA) in Nashik in 2019, and has previously represented the state police at national-level meets.
The Case and Bribery Demand
According to the ACB, a criminal case was previously registered against the 42-year-old complainant at the Dighi Police Station. PSI Gapat was assigned as the investigating officer (IO) for the case.
To help the complainant with the ongoing investigation and submit a “B-Final” report (a closure report filed when a case is found to be false or registered due to a mistake of fact), Gapat allegedly demanded a massive bribe of ₹8,00,000.
Unwilling to pay the bribe, the complainant approached the Pune ACB office on July 14, and lodged a formal complaint.
Verification and the Trap
Acting on the complaint, the ACB team conducted a verification of the bribe demand on July 15. During the verification process, PSI Gapat negotiated with the complainant and agreed to accept a settled amount of ₹3,00,000 to submit the closure report.
Following the verification, the ACB immediately laid a trap at Dighi Police Station later that evening. At around 5:49 PM, Gapat was caught red-handed by the ACB team while accepting the negotiated bribe of ₹3,00,000 from the complainant in the presence of independent government witnesses (panchas).
Legal Proceedings and ACB Appeal
PSI Chaitali Gapat has been taken into custody, and the process of registering a formal case under Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, is currently underway at the Dighi Police Station.
The operation was executed by the Pune ACB team under the guidance of:
Shirish Sardeshpande (Superintendent of Police, ACB Pune Range)
Ajit Patil (Additional Superintendent of Police, ACB Pune)
Arjun Bhosale (Additional Superintendent of Police, ACB Pune)
The trap was led by Police Inspector Suhas Haddekar, while Police Inspector Mithun Mhatre is handling the further investigation of the case.
Following the arrest, SP Shirish Sardeshpande and Addl SP Ajit Patil appealed to the public to immediately report any demands for bribes by public servants or intermediaries. Citizens can contact the Pune ACB office via the following channels:
Telephone: 020-26122134, 26132802, 26050423, or 9403781064
WhatsApp: 9403781064 (Pune) / 9930997700 (Mumbai)
Email: [email protected]
Websites: www.acbmaharashtra.gov.in / www.acbmaharashtra.net.in
