HYDERABAD: The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) on Friday arrested a GHMC (Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation) official and two Telugu newspaper reporters for demanding Rs 2 lakh bribe from one Keshav Reddy of Jubilee Hills for not taking action on the shed erected on his building. Another reporter, who is also involved in the case, is at large.
The arrested persons include Siddhantam Madhan Raj, GHMC Town Planning Section Officer, Circle-18, Khairatabad and Akula Kiran Goud, a reporter with Telugu daily Andhra Prabha, and Sopally Srinivas, another reporter with Mana Telangana. On a tip off, the ACB officials caught three of them red handed while demanding and accepting Rs 2 lakh as bribe from Keshav Reddy, for not taking action on the shed erected on his building.
According to officials, Keshav Reddy constructed a small shed on the terrace of his building. The two reporters Kiran Goud and Srinivas went to Keshav Reddy’s residence and asked him whether he obtained permission from the GHMC for building the shed. They told Reddy that they were reporters and asked for bribe for not writing about the illegal shed in their newspapers.
“Keshav Reddy tried to explain that he did not violate any rules by making permanent structure and it was only a temporary structure. The reporters informed the GHMC official Madhan Raj about it and the trio started demanding bribe from Reddy,’’ officials said.