Caught taking a bribe, a law officer in Telangana tore the currency notes and flushed them down the toilet in an attempt to wipe out evidence. The incident occurred in Hyderabad on Monday when officials of the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) caught Assistant Public Prosecutor Shakeel Ansari taking a bribe. 

Ansari works at the Junior First Class Magistrate's (JFCM) court in Shadnagar town, which is at the outskirts of Hyderabad. He had demanded Rs 8,000 from Prabhakar Reddy for not including his mother's name in a case. Reddy lodged a complaint with the anti-graft agency, which laid a trap to catch the officer red-handed.

On Monday, Ansari was collecting the bribe money from Reddy at his house in Hyderabad’s Basheerbagh area when the ACB team arrived there. On noticing the sleuths, he tore the currency notes and flushed them down the toilet. The officials managed to retrieve the torn pieces and arrested him.

The accused was then presented in front of a special ACB court and remanded to judicial custody.

The ACB frequently lays out such traps to nab any officers who collect bribes and ask for undue favours, red handed.

Just last week, the bureau arrested five people, including a Mandal Revenue Inspector from Kadthal, for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 20,000 for an official favour.

Earlier this month, the ACB nabbed another Mandal Revenue Inspector for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 5,000 to process an application under the state’s Kalyana Laxmi scheme. The incident took place in Nadikuda mandal in Warangal district.

ACB officials have said that citizens across the state can dial the toll free number, 1064, in case any government official or employee demands a bribe to discharge their duties.

IANS inputs