MUMBAI: After pursuing cases for years based only on complaints received, the Maharashtra Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) has now changed tack and is chasing the corrupt actively using under-cover operatives.

The policy of hot pursuit has paid rich dividends. In the last quarter of 2013 (October-November-December), the ACB booked 250 cases compared to 160 cases registered in the corresponding period last year.

The switch in strategy followed instructions from the new ACB chief Praveen Dixit to his officers to stop acting like a 'grocer's shop waiting for customers' and 'go chase the corrupt.'

Under-cover ACB investigators now routinely hang around government offices to sniff out corrupt officers. Once they identify a target, they gather evidence, convince a person from whom a bribe is being demanded, get him to file a compliant, and then lay a trap.

Dixit, who joined the ACB in October after heading the police housing corporation for less than a year, explained that the policy of hot pursuit not only helps in identifying corrupt practices, but also instills confidence in the minds of the general public.

"Common man is afraid to approach an agency like ours. They have their own conceptions and misconceptions about the ACB. We need to bridge that gap. Instead of waiting for people to approach us and file complaints, we have decided to reach out to them," he said.

There are 26 investigators in the ACB's Mumbai office and between them they have 70 government offices under their watch.

"The biggest challenge is to go day after day to these government departments and not get identified as an ACB officer. We just hang around pretending to be citizens who have some work there. Once we get to know of malpractices and the source of corruption in that department, our next target is to approach a victim and convince him to file a complaint," said an investigator.

On Tuesday, regional traffic office clerk Rajesh Shankar Nevrekar and his conduit were arrested by the ACB while accepting a bribe of Rs 1800 from a tourist operator in Andheri. An under-cover ACB investigator had first noticed this tourist operator being harassed by the RTO clerk sometime in November.

"The clerk had demanded Rs 2,000 from the tourist operator, who was caught on November 18 for a running vehicle with an expired permit. He came to the clerk with Rs 1800, which is Rs 200 short of the sum demanded, and got an earful. That's when our investigator noticed and started pursuing the case," said a senior ACB official.

After gathering all the evidence, the investigator approached the tourist operator and convinced him to file a complaint.

A trap was laid on Tuesday and the RTO clerk and his agent Ghanshyam Gumare were nabbed red-handed.

An added advantage of the new approach has been the number of new cases ACB has managed to book for disproportionate assets and misconduct, where it does not need a complainant. "Because the investigators are out in the field, they are also coming across more cases of disproportionate assets and misconduct. We want government officers to know that ACB is vigilant and watching them," said Dixit.