HYDERABAD: ACB sleuths caught Shamirpet tahsildar T Sucharitha while allegedly accepting a Rs 2 lakh bribe on Tuesday afternoon.
According to ACB officials, Sucharitha, who also serves as executive magistrate and joint sub-registrar of Shamirpet mandal in Medchal-Malkajgiri district, was trapped by the ACB Rangareddy range officials around 2 pm after she allegedly demanded Rs 30 lakh from a complainant for processing and approving applications related to NALA conversion of 30 acres of agricultural land.
Officials said Sucharitha had been working as Shamirpet tahsildar for the past one-and-a-half years and had earlier served in Quthbullapur for two years.
Driver accepted bribe amount on tahsildar’s behalf, says ACB
The officials alleged that she accepted Rs 2 lakh as an advance payment through her private driver, V Nagesh. The tainted cash was recovered from the driver during the operation.
In 2024, the ACB arrested the then Shamirpet tahsildar and his driver for allegedly accepting a Rs 10 lakh bribe. The accused, identified as Thodeti Satyanarayana, had allegedly demanded Rs 20 lakh from a complainant to submit a favourable report and forward the file to the district collector for issuance of pattadar passbooks.
The raids on Tuesday were conducted under the supervision of Rangareddy ACB DSP Anand Kumar. Speaking to the media, Anand Kumar said the inquiry was initiated after complaints that officials had demanded huge sums for conversion of nearly 30 acres of land in Aliabad village of Shamirpet mandal.
According to the preliminary investigation, the accused demanded Rs 30 lakh at the rate of Rs 1 lakh per acre for clearing the land conversion process.
During the raids, officials seized documents and records related to land permissions from the tahsildar’s office for further examination. The ACB said the accused officer had allegedly misused her official position to obtain undue advantage in return for extending official favour.
Both the tahsildar and the driver were arrested and are being produced before the I Additional Special Judge for SPE and ACB Cases at Nampally for judicial remand. Further investigation is under way.