Surveyor arrested for taking bribe in TN

TRICHY: A firka surveyor in Trichy district of Tamil Nadu was arrested on Friday for demanding and taking a bribe of Rs 5,000 from a man who had approached him for sub-division of a joint patta of his land.

A team led by the deputy superintendent of police (DSP) G Manikandan of Trichy detachment of Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) caught surveyor Karuppaiah, 48, of Kalpalayam firka red-handed while he was receiving the bribe from D Ramesh Kumar, 51, of Kalpalayam.

DVAC DSP Manikandan said Ramesh Kumar was running a cell phone spare parts shop at Thiruvanaikovil in Trichy. He mortgaged his house at Kalapalayam for taking a loan for business purposes. As a prerequisite, the bank asked for the patta of land. Since he had a joint patta, he applied for the sub-division of it at the survey section in the Mannachanallur taluk office on July 13.

Since there was no response from the surveyor office on his application, he met firka surveyor Karuppaiah at his office on September 5. Karuppaiah demanded Rs 6,000 for processing his application. Later, as requested by Ramesh, Karuppaiah reduced the amount to Rs 5,000.

Unwilling to pay the bribe, Ramesh lodged a complaint with the DVAC. The DVAC laid a trap and caught Karuppaiah red-handed.