KOPPAL: The Koppal Lokayukta police arrested the secretary and bill collector of the Koluru Gram Panchayat office, along with a daily wage worker who colluded with them in accepting a bribe amount of Rs 75,000 on May 6. The accused are Mariyappa, 59, secretary at the GP office, Nagaraj, 31, bill collector, and Maruti, 22, a daily wage employee at the office GP office.
The complainant, M Gnaneshwarayya, 65, a retired Gram Panchayat secretary and resident of Durga Road, Ramanagar, Hagaribommanahalli in Vijayanagara district, alleged that agricultural land measuring 8 guntas in Survey No. 74/+/29 at Dadegal village, Koppal taluk, belonging to his wife K. Sumangala, 62, had been converted for non-agricultural use under deemed land conversion based on the master plan by the Koppal Deputy Commissioner on November 8, 2024.
Subsequently, on March 27, 2025, the Koppal Urban Development Authority approved the layout for single-site residential use.