Daijiworld Media Network - Kundapur

Kundapur, Oct 16: The Lokayukta police arrested a village accountant (VA) of the Kundapur taluk office on Thursday evening for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 5,000 to issue a no-objection certificate (NOC) for the construction of a homestay in Kandlur.

The arrested official has been identified as Harish S. He was apprehended while on duty at his office.

Based on a complaint filed by Suresh Naik, the Lokayukta police registered a case and initiated an investigation.

According to the complaint, Harish demanded a bribe of Rs 5,000 to issue the NOC and instructed the complainant to transfer the amount via Google Pay. Naik complied and transferred the funds. The police verified the transaction record and an audio recording of the phone conversation in which the bribe was demanded before carrying out the arrest.

The operation was conducted under the guidance of Lokayukta Mangaluru division superintendent of police (SP) B P Dinesh Kumar and Udupi DySP Halamurthy Rao. It was led by Lokayukta police inspectors Manjunath and Rajendra Naik, with the assistance of staff members Raghavendra, Nagaraj, Arun, Abdul Jalal, Ravindra, Adarsh, Raghavendra Hoskote, and Suraj.