Hyderabad: A section officer with the GHMC’s Circle 18 was caught red-handed by the Anti-Corruption Bureau while he was accepting a Rs 2-lakh bribe from a person for giving permission to build a commercial complex in Sitaphal-mandi in Secunderabad.
The ACB said in a media release that section officer G. Rakesh demanded Rs 8 lakh from the victim, of which the Rs 2 lakh seized on Wednesday had been paid as an advance.
The ACB said Mr Edukondalu, a resident of Sitaphalmandi, had applied for permission to construct a commercial complex in 2014. The GHMC gave permission in March 2015. After he started construction, Rakesh demanded a bribe to allow the work to proceed.
When he refused, Rakesh served notice on Mr Edukondalu in 2016 stating the construction was illegal. Mr Edukondalu moved court which quashed the notice and held that all permissions had been obtained.
When he approached Rakesh again for approval, the official demanded Rs 8 lakh. “On Wednesday, while he was accepting Rs 2 lakh as an advance outside his office, he was caught red-handed,” said ACB DSP Ravi Kumar. Rakesh was arrested and the money seized from him. He will be produced before the ACB court.
