BENGALURU: The Special Court for Lokayukta Cases sentenced BS Venkatachalapathy, who was special tahsildar of Bengaluru South Taluk in 2017, to three years’ rigorous imprisonment and ordered him to pay a fine of Rs 7 lakh.
The court also sentenced one Madhusudan BR, who collected Rs 5 lakh as bribe from a landowner on behalf of the special tahsildar to settle a land dispute, to three years’ rigorous imprisonment and ordered him to pay a fine of Rs 40,000. Judge KM Radhakrishna passed the order convicting and sentencing the accused under the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
On December 15, 2017, HP Manjunath lodged a complaint with the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) against Venkatachalapathy and Madhusudan for allegedly demanding Rs 20 lakh from him to pass an order in his favour pertaining to a dispute over 1.37 acres of land at Gottigere.
The accused reduced their demand to Rs 15 lakh and were trapped while accepting Rs 5 lakh at Kandaya Bhavan on KG Road in the city by ACB sleuths three days after Madhusudan filed the complaint.