MANGALURU: Mangaluru Lokayukta police swooped down on transport department officials at the interstate checkpost at Talapady near Mangaluru and found them indulging in illegality and bribery using UPI mobile payment application like GooglePay and PhonePe.
It was at around 7.30 pm that all goods lorry drivers were at the checkpost to hand over ‘mamul’, a bribe. Dysfunctional CCTV cameras at the financially sensitive set ups, where interstate transportation is screened made it favourable for the practice to continue. A team of three Lokayukta officers, who were in civil dress, caught transporters handing over ‘mamul’ to the checkpost officials.
“We found unaccounted cash of up to Rs 2 lakh, which was paid using GPay. Most of the transporters, who end up paying the bribe, are from other states including Kerala. CCTV cameras are installed at the checkpost, but they were dysfunctional,” said Laxmi Ganesh K, Superintendent of Police, Mangaluru Lokayukta Division.
He added, “We will verify the bank account details of the middlemen and RTO officials. The staff and middlemen used to collect the money and transfer it to the bank accounts of officers using Gpay. Some of the transporters are paying the amount through mobile apps of middle men who to transfer the money to RTO officials.”
A lorry driver who transports good from Kerala to a fish oil company at Ullal near Mangaluru, was also at the checkpost during the raid. When SP Laxmi Ganesh inquired him about the bribe amount he pays for every trip, the driver answered on camera that he pays Rs 100.
Another lorry driver who was also caught red-handed giving bribe, openly admitted on camera that he pays Rs 200 each during three trips a month and they pay at every checkpost.