VISAKHAPATNAM/VIZIANAGARAM:The Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) sleuths trapped a senior official of the Commercial Taxes department at the commercial taxes office in VUDA Complex in Vizag for demanding and accepting a bribe Tuesday morning. Assistant commercial taxes officer (ACTO) V Kishore Kumar was nabbed for accepting Rs 50,000 bribe from a retailer in Vizag.
According to ACB DSP Ramakrishna, a retailer from Tagarapuvalasa approached Kishore Kumar for assessment of his account books which were presented at the CTO office. For signing and passing the orders, Kishore demanded Rs 2.5 lakh initially from the retailer. The retailer told the official that he could not pay such a huge amount and so Kishore settled for Rs 1 lakh and asked the retailer to pay the amount in two instalments.
Vexed, the retailer approached the ACB officials who laid a trap and nabbed the tainted officer. On Tuesday morning, the retailer came to the office and handed over the money to Kishore. Immediately, ACB officials led by DSP Ramakrishna raided the office and found the ink-marked currency notes from the ACTO. The ACTO was arrested and would be produced in court.
In another case, ACB officials of Vizianagaram district trapped a village revenue officer (VRO) of Kella village of Gorla mandal, K Rama Rao, while accepting Rs 10,000 from a farmer of the same village. Sources said that the VRO demanded bribe from the farmer to pass the pattadar passbook.