Three forest guards in Coimbatore held for taking bribe from farm owner

Coimbatore: Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) sleuths arrested three forest guards for accepting a bribe from a farm owner at the Anaikatti check post in the district on Tuesday.E Krishnamoorthy, 36, of Madukkarai in Coimbatore, owns a mulberry farm in Attappadi, Kerala. He regularly tranports manure to his farm from Palladam in his mini truck. On Monday, forest guards had demanded Rs 1,000 as bribe from Krishnamoorthy to cross the check post at Anaikatti. Unwilling to pay the bribe, Krishnamoorthy lodged a complaint with the DVAC, who laid a trap and provided Krishnamoorthy with chemically-laced currency notes.On Tuesday morning, while Krishnamoorthy was transporting manure in his mini truck, forest guard K Selvakumar, 40, demanded money. Krishnamoorthy handed over the chemically-laced currency to him, which he accepted. The sleuths, who were waiting near the check post, caught him red-handed.Similarly, DVAC sleuths arrested forest guards K Sathish Kumar, 50, and P Subramaniam, 53, while accepting money from Krishnamoorthy at the Anaikatti check post. DVAC officials registered two separate cases.