Forester held with 'bribe cash'

K M Narayanaswamy, Deputy Conservator of Forests (DCF), Kollegal, was intercepted at Anagalli near the town around 8 am when, according to the Lokayukta officials, he was heading for Bangalore in an official vehicle.

The raid was conducted after the Lokayukta police received a tip-off from their sources. Lokayukta Superintendent of Police D’Souza said they got information on the plan to transport money received from contractors, two days ago.

The money, which was being ferried to Bangalore by the officer, was found during the checking of his luggage after his vehicle was intercepted.  It was reportedly meant to be paid to higher officials.

Caught red-handed, Narayanaswamy reportedly did not cooperate and took offence to the checking of an IFS officer like him. When confronted, he maintained it was his personal money he had withdrawn from a bank. When probed about its source, he failed to answer convincingly. The cash was found in denominations of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000.

Later, however, he retracted and feigned ignorance about the existence of the cash in his suitcase. He claimed that the caretaker of the guest house where he was staying might have kept the money “without his knowledge”.

A case under Sections 7, 13 (1) D) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 has been lodged against Narayanaswamy. He was produced before a district judge who remanded him to judicial custody till March 31.

According to Rupak Kumar Dutta, Additional DGP (Lokayukta), the officer might have received the money from range forest officers as his “rightful commission” in awarding contracts. 

Dutta, however, ruled out that Narayanaswamy received the money from the public. “An officer like DCF has hardly got any day-to-day interaction with the people. It’s likely that Narayanaswamy received the money from his subordinates,” he told Deccan Herald.
The police officer, however, said that the exact source of the alleged bribe would be unravelled only after Narayanaswamy opened his mouth.