KHAMMAM: Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) officials on Monday arrested three persons, including a deputy tahsildar of the Civil Supplies department, while accepting a bribe through a middleman.
According to ACB DSP Y Ramesh, Civil Supplies deputy tahsildar Mohammed Yakub Pasha conducted an inspection of a ration shop in Tekulapalli mandal on November 7 and sealed it, citing stock shortage. To allow the shop to resume operations, Pasha and technical assistant Vijay allegedly demanded a bribe of Rs 30,000 from the ration dealer.
The woman dealer told them she was financially weak, but Pasha reportedly insisted that the payment was mandatory. Unable to bear the pressure, she alerted the ACB.
The ACB gathered technical evidence, including recorded phone conversations between Yakub Pasha, Vijay and the dealer. When she asked whom to hand over the money to, Vijay allegedly told her to give it to Shabarish, president of the Yellandu Mandal Ration Dealers’ Association.
Following the instructions, the dealer handed over Rs 30,000 to Shabarish. Later, at a cell phone point in Jagadamba Centre, Yellandu, Shabarish was caught red-handed while passing the bribe amount to Vijay. ACB officials immediately apprehended all three. Investigation is underway.