ADILABAD: The special court for Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) cases, presided over by Special Judge Kumar Vivek, found Thogari Pochaiah, deputy commercial tax officer at Luxettipet unit, Mancherial circle, guilty of accepting a bribe of Rs 4,000 for granting official favours. Subsequently, he was sentenced to three years of rigorous imprisonment (RI) for Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) violations and a four-year RI under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, which he will serve concurrently. He was also fined a total of Rs 8,000.
Pochaiah had demanded and accepted a bribe of Rs 4,000 on September 27, 2013, from complainant Aili Surender, a businessman from Muthyampalli village in Kasipet mandal.
Surender said that Pochaiah sought the bribe to extend official favour by avoiding interference in his business activities, which included running a fertiliser shop in Muthyampalli, and to prevent potential actions like cancellation of his tax identification number.
If Pochaiah defaults on the fine, he will have to undergo an additional two months of simple imprisonment, said ACB DSP VV Ramana Murthy.