R B Jagadish

Daijiworld Media Network - Karkala (SP)

Karkala, Jun 3: Village accountant of Nitte gram panchayat, Guruprasad, was caught red-handed by the officials of Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) when accepting bribe from a citizen on Friday June 2 when collecting Rs 4,000 which he had reportedly demanded as bribe from an individual.

It is gathered that Vinayak from Gundyadka in Nitte gram panchayat had filed an application seeking modification in the RTC pertaining to his house. The application was pending investigation. It is said that the village accountant of Nitte, Guruprasad, had demanded Rs 5,000 as bribe to make the changes as per the application. However, Vinayak refused to heed to this demand. Therefore, he was made to wait since the last three months as no action as sought was undertaken. Vinayak thereafter approached ACB office at Udupi and complained about the incident.

ACB officials drew up a plan to nab the village accountant in consultation with the complainant. Under instructions from ACB officials, Vinayak contacted Guruprasad over phone and was asked to come to the taluk office immediately with cash. At the request of Vinayak, the bribe amount is stated to have been brought down to Rs 4,000.

The complainant reached the taluk office. When Guruprasad was accepting money in the 'Bhoomi' section in the revenue department of the taluk office, ACB officials conducted the raid and arrested the accused. The arrested village accountant was produced in the court here.

There have been several complaints about the proliferation of middle men in the taluk office here. People have been pointing out that services which are not available to them are readily provided when the request is moved through the middle men.

The operation was conducted by ACB inspectors, Ranganath and Sathish, under the directions of ACB superintendent of police, Muttamadaiah.