Back in 1873 five persons were given 2350 sq. mt of land in Mazgaon at a cost of Rs.1.53 rent a year. That lease expired in 1972, but the collector continued to collect the rent set 140 years ago. Later in 1885 three people leased 1814 sq.mt in Byculla. The lease lapsed in 1994, but the amount collected continues to be Rs.5.65 a year.

Then there is Prithvi Cotton Mills who leased 1,597.83 sq.mt in Malabar and Cumbala Hill, for which the lease expired in 1996 but the rent stands at Rs.4.98 a year.

In Matunga three others leased a 1,672.25 sq.mt property and again despite the lease ending in 1998 a pittance of just Rs.1 yearly rent continued to be charged.

Notwithstanding all the obvious errors, the collectors office is ignorant about 103 properties that were similarly rented out for leases that were made decades ago. The collectors reasoned that there was a delay because the 1999 rent renewal policy of the state had been challenged and a fresh policy was set only in December 2012.

Since former central information commissioner Shailesh Gandhi sought information under the RTI Act, it was found that the collectors caused some Rs.1550 and more in annual losses due to carelessness or corruption.

The huge mess is now being handled but Mr Gandhi says citizens must speak against the policy and protest before the government dispossesses people of their land and legitimate revenue and get the government to auction leases in Mumbai and all over Maharashtra that could generate a revenue stream of over Rs.25,000 crore annually.

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Three police inspectors from the MRA Marg police station in Mumbai are under the scanner for taking a Rs.1 crore bribe from 3 Ugandan nationals, to let them walk away from a high-profile extortion case last month. The Deputy Commissioner of Police has asked for the suspension of Senior Inspector Padmakar Julikar, Inspector Sideshwar Gove and Sub-Inspector Mahesh Kale.

This relates to a complaint from a director of Videocon Industries Marven Fernandes who registered an FIR report against Isaac Musumba, 52, and Michael Mawanda, 45, - members of the Ugandan Parliament - and businessman Yakuba Mathai, 35.

The accused were picked up and booked under sections of extortion; criminal conspiracy; and criminal trespass of the Indian Penal Code. The trio still managed to leave Mumbai for Delhi and filed a special leave petition in the Supreme Court there alleging their detention was illegal.

The apex court then asked the Mumbai police to file a reply. Sources say the accused police officials took a bribe in dollars from the three and took no action. The Ugandans tried to flee the country but were intercepted by immigration officials.

In 2009 Videocon invested in a business in Uganda but closed it without prior notice to investors. The Ugandan accused claim they had an international arrest warrant against the directors and said they came to Mumbai to settle and sought $20 million from Videocon. Later it was revealed the accused were on a personal trip to the country.

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In a report submitted to chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, the UP Lokayukta said that public money to the tune of Rs.1400 crore was siphoned off by ministers and bureaucrats during former UP CM Mayawati's regime.

N K Mehrotra has now indicted 199 people including the Bahujan Samaj Party chief's close aide Naseemuddin Siddiqui in this connection. The report gives Mayawati a clean slate but does recommend that losses from the scam be compensated by the accused former ministers.

Others named in the scam include Babiu Singh Kushwala, 54 engineers, 37 accountants and 60 owners of firms hired for construction of the memorials.

The gravity and intricacy of the scam involves a great many people, contractors, miners, suppliers for the statues in Lucknow and Noida etc. There was also a great deal of wasteful expenditure traced. In short, corruption at almost every phase of the project persisted.

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The Enforcement Directorate has registered a criminal case of money laundering against Ashutosh Verma who was also arrested in 2008 for diluting I-T appraisals of companies of arms dealer Suresh Nanda.

Verma who was last year promoted as a Joint Director in the department will soon have his properties attached, incuding a resort in Goa, under provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

In a charge sheet filed last year, the CBI said the I-T officer had abused his official position and deleted and diluted the Income Tax appraisal report prepared by him to minimise the tax liabilities of Nanda's companies for obtaining pecuniary advantages.

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A CBI superintendent of police was arrested by his own colleagues for being involved in the investigation of the coal blocks allocation scam on allegations of seeking and accepting a bribe of Rs.7 lakhs for mediating in a case of land dispute of a private person. The exchange of money took place outside the CBI headquarters and the money was taken on behalf of the SP.

A CBI official confirmed they have arrested SP Vivek Dutt and Rajesh Karnatak an inspector working under him for asking for and receiving Rs.7 lakhs from Alwar based Dinesh Gupta. Karnatak was acting as a conduit.

THE CBI is now going to inform the Supreme Court about the daring corruption episode.

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