Officials of the Anti-Corruption Bureau nabbed a forest section officer of the Eravendi section of Manuguru division's Ashwapuram range while he was taking a bribe.
The official, Punem Nagaraju, was caught redhanded by the sleuths of the ACB while taking a bribe of Rs 15,000 from a man identified as Banoth Veeranna, a native of Mallelamadugu village.
Nagaraju was nabbed at the Bhadrachalam bus stand and the bribe amount was recovered from the official's bike.
According to the details revealed by Khammam ACB DSP S C Ramanamurthy, Veeranna had built a shed with sheets on a vacant plot of land at Manugur in Bhadradri Kothagudem district. However, the DSP said, the accused had demolished the shed and taken the poles used to build it to the Mondikunta forest.
"When the victim demanded that the official, Nagaraju, return the poles, the latter asked him to first pay a bribe of Rs 15,000 for them. Left with no alternative, the victim had then approached us and had lodged a complaint against Nagaraju. To nab him, a trap was laid and the official was caught redhanded as a result. He was caught just as he was accepting the bribe amount," Ramanamurthy stated.
ACB CIs Srinivas, Ravi, and Raghubabu had taken part in the operation.