Telangana’s Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) has arrested a man who tried to burn Rs 5 lakh cash he had received as a bribe on behalf of a government official.
The anti-graft agency arrested Venkataiah Goud, who set afire the currency to avoid being caught at his residence at Kalwakurthy in Nagarkurnool district on Tuesday.
The agency also arrested Saidulu, the tehsildar of Veldanda mandal, who had asked Goud to collect the bribe for doing an official favour to a man.
When ACB sleuths reached the residence of Goud, a former president of the Mandal Parishad, he realised that he had been trapped, immediately locked himself in and set afire the currency on a gas stove in the kitchen.
The ACB officials broke open the door to find that Goud had set afire the bribe amount. They immediately doused the fire but by that time a part of the currency was completely burnt.
While 46 currency notes of Rs 2,000 denomination (amounting to Rs 92,000) from the total bribe amount of Rs 5 lakh were completely burnt and the remaining notes in denomination of Rs 500 and few in Rs 2,000 were partially burnt, a senior ACB official said.
Saidulu, the Tahsildar of Veldanda Mandal, had allegedly asked the man identified as Venkataiah Goud to collect the bribe amount of Rs 5 lakh at his residence from the complainant for doing an official favour, an ACB release said here.
ACB officials recovered the partially burnt currency notes from Venkataiah’s residence and took him into custody. The New Indian Express reported that Venkataiah has linked to the Telangana Rastra Samithi (TRS), the ruling party in Telangana.
The Tahsildar was also subsequently taken into custody for demanding and accepting the bribe amount, an ACB official said adding a case was registered and further probe is on.
In a similar incident reported from Sirohi district of Rajasthan last month, a Tahsildar locked himself inside his residence and allegedly burnt currency notes worth Rs 15-20 lakh after the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) caught a revenue inspector while taking a bribe of Rs 1 lakh on his behalf, officials had earlier said.
