The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) of Karnataka on Monday arrested a revenue official for allegedly asking and accepting a bribe to settle a land dispute in Bengaluru’s Hulimavu locality.
The Special Tahsildar (Bengaluru South) Venkatachalapathy was arrested along with his aide Madhu, after the revenue officer reportedly demanded Rs 15 lakh and accepted Rs 5 lakh as bribe, in connection with a disputed piece of land.
Both the complainant’s father and his siblings lay claim to one acre of land in Hulimavu, reported Deccan Herald.
According to the complainant, Venkatachalapathy had promised to settle the dispute by fudging the ownership documents but demanded a sum of Rs 5 lakh to initiate the process.
It was then that the complainant approached the ACB, reported The Times of India.
The officer and his accomplice have been booked under sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
In November, the Director General and Inspector General of Police Neelmani N Raju had asked the police department through a circular to file FIRs against revenue officials only after confirming the details of the complaints.
According to The Hindu, the circular was issued after the Principal Secretary (Revenue) had written to Raju alleging the police of harassing revenue officials by registering FIRs against them without verifying complaints against them.
Past Incidents
Earlier, in November, the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Wing of the police had arrested Rasipuram Tahsildar and the revenue inspector for allegedly accepting bribe for issuing an heir certificate.
The complainant agreed to pay the amount in instalments but the revenue officials started stalling the work. This irked the complainant who approached the police.
In a similar incident in June, the tahsildar and revenue inspector of Shivamogga were arrested by the ACB for allegedly demanding Rs 2 lakh from a farmer in return for granting a title deed for his agricultural land.
The ACB laid a trap and caught the officials red-handed.