Vijayawada fire officer arrested for taking bribe of Rs 1 lakh
VIJAYAWADA: A fire officer was caught red-handed by Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) officials on Wednesday for accepting a bribe of Rs one lakh. The arrested was identified as Kuchipudi Srinivasa Rao, who was approached by Muddada Rama Krishna for issuing of a fire accident report.
The accused fire officer fell into a trap laid by ACB officials following a complaint lodged against him on May 17 by Rama Krishna, the owner of Vijaya Durga Petro Chemicals at New Auto Nagar of Vijayawada.
On May 10, a major fire accident took place in Auto Nagar and Rama Krishna’s establishment, along with another shop Anjaneya Plastics, suffered damage. During the mishap, the complainant’s electric metre also got damaged and the electricity department sought a fire accident report to replace it.
Krishna district ACB DSP said: “Rama Krishna was reluctant to pay the bribe. He approached us and lodged a complaint against fire officer Srinivasa Rao. We, then, laid a trap and caught him red-handed accepting the bribe at his office. Rao’s fingerprints also matched when chemical test was done on the notes.”Investigation in the case is underway.