THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Vigilance sleuths on Monday arrested a village officer and a field assistant for taking a bribe from a quarry owner.Basheer, special village officer of Raroth, Kozhikode, and Rajesh, field assistant, were arrested while collecting the Rs 50,000 bribe.
The complainant was Sivakumar of Shine Villa, Thamarassery, Kozhikode, who wanted to start a quarry. The accused demanded Rs 10 lakh bribe or 25 per cent stake in the quarry in return for possession certificates for the proposed quarry land.
Sivakumar agreed to give Rs 10 lakh and the accused asked him to pay Rs 50,000 as the first instalment.
Basheer received the amount and handed it over to Rajesh when the Vigilance sleuths intervened. The Vigilance team was led by Kozhikode unit DySP G Sabu.