Pulivendula deputy tahsildar in ACB net for Rs 10,000 bribe

Vijayawada: Sleuths of the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) caught Vadla Nagendra Kumar Babu, working as deputy tahsildar at the Pulivendula RDO in Kadapa district, while demanding and accepting a bribe of Rs 10,000. He was subsequently arrested on Friday.Based on a complaint lodged by M Karimullah, a resident of Kumaarakalva village in Chakrayapeta, the Kadapa ACB officials registered a case under Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption (as amended in 2018) Act, 1988, against Babu after he demanded a Rs 10,000 bribe from the complainant for processing a revenue file.According to the information, the case pertained to 34.86 cents of land in Survey Number 72 of Yerrabommpalli village and 0.97 cents of land in Survey Number 165 in Kumaarakalva village in Chakrayapeta mandal. The lands, in the name of the Khadreeya mosque, were declared Inam lands and allegedly encroached upon.In this regard, the complainant submitted a complaint through PGRS to the accused deputy tahsildar after multiple failed attempts by the revenue authorities in the past to free the land illegally grabbed by the encroachers and delete the encroachers' names from the revenue records. Subsequently, the accused deputy tahsildar demanded Rs 10,000 for processing the file, obtaining the Pulivendula RDO's signature, and forwarding the file to the Chakrayapeta tahsildar for further proceedings.As the complainant was unwilling to pay the bribe amount, he lodged a complaint with ACB officials, who caught the official red-handed while demanding and accepting the bribe at his office on Friday.Searches were being conducted at the residential and office premises of the arrested accused, the ACB said, and added that the accused was produced before the Kurnool ACB magistrate.