Telangana tahsildar caught in Anti-Corruption Bureau’s net; aide burns Rs 5 lakh to evade arrest

ACB officials could recover only partially burnt currency notes from Venkataiah Goud's house and took him into custody
Telangana tahsildar caught in Anti-Corruption Bureau’s net; aide burns Rs 5 lakh to evade arrest

A man, who was instructed by a Tahsildar to collect "bribe" amount of ₹ 5 lakh, allegedly burnt the currency notes at his house in Telangana's Nagarkurnool district on Tuesday to escape being caught by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), the agency said.

The ACB is said to have acted on a complaint lodged by R Ramulu, a sarpanch from Rangareddy district, Telangana. Ramulu had applied for permission to grant a quarry lease license when Saidulu, a Tahsildar of Veldanda Mandal in Nagarkurnool District demanded Rs 5 lakh and asked Ramulu to hand the money over to his associate Venkataiah Goud.

When the ACB team knocked on Goud’s door, he is said to have bolted the door of his house and burnt the bribe money on a gas stove to escape from being caught. ACB officials, who are said to have forced the door down, could recover only partially burnt currency notes from the man's house and have taken him into custody.

While 46 currency notes of ₹ 2,000 denomination (amounting to ₹ 92,000) of the total bribe amount of ₹ 5 lakh were completely burnt, the remaining notes in the denomination of ₹ 500 and few in ₹ 2,000 were partially burnt, a senior ACB official said.

The Tahsildar has also been arrested. According to a media house, Goud has links to the Telangana Rastra Samithi, the ruling party in Telangana.

A case has been registered against both and a further probe is on.

A similar incident was reported from Sirohi district of Rajasthan in March 2021 when a Tahsildar locked himself inside his residence and allegedly burnt currency notes worth Rs 15-20 lakh after the ACB caught a revenue inspector while taking a bribe of Rs 1 lakh on his behalf, officials had earlier said.

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