On Thursday, Lokayukta officials in Mangaluru apprehended Nagaraju, a junior engineer at Kinnigoli Town Panchayat, and M.R. Swamy, the chief officer, for allegedly accepting a bribe from a Class I PWD contractor. The officials were caught red-handed while receiving payments in exchange for passing a bill.
As per the Lokayukta’s release, Nagaraju had demanded a ₹52,000 bribe to process a ₹9.77 lakh bill related to the development of the S. Kodi water body under the Fifth Finance Commission grants (2022-23). Out of this, ₹37,000 was intended for Nagaraju, while ₹15,000 was for Swamy. The junior engineer had already accepted ₹7,000 from the contractor earlier and was caught accepting the remaining ₹30,000. Swamy was arrested while taking his ₹15,000 share.
Both officials were taken into custody following the arrests.
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