HYDERABAD: Officials with the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) on Tuesday arrested Thodeti Satyanarayana, tahsildar of Shamirpet mandal, Medchal-Malkajgiri district, for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 10 lakh. Along with the accused officer, his driver too was apprehended and produced before a court, as per a release.
According to the ACB, Satyanarayana demanded a bribe of Rs 20 lakh from one Movva Ramaseshagiri Rao, a resident of Hyderabad, to write a report in his favour and forward the file to the district collector for issuance of pattadar passbooks for his lands.
As collateral, the officer took a cheque of Rs 20 lakh from Ramaseshagiri in December 2023, the release said.
Subsequently, he approached the ACB and lodged a complaint against Satyanarayana. The ACB then laid a trap and caught Satyanarayana accepting a bribe of Rs 10 lakh through his driver, Badri, on Tuesday, it said, adding that the Rs 20-lakh cheque was also seized. Satyanarayana and Badri were arrested and produced before the additional special Judge for SPE and ACB cases, Hyderabad.
The ACB has urged the public to contact their toll-free number (1064) if a public servant demands bribes from them.
In all the recent cases, except the one involving former HMDA (town planning) director Shiva Balakrishna, the bribe amounts seized during raids have been less than Rs 30,000. However, in August 2023, a major case emerged when the Keesara tahsildar was caught red-handed accepting a bribe of Rs 1.10 crore from real estate agents to settle a land dispute. The initial demand for the bribe was a staggering Rs 2 crore.