JOIN USDemanding a bribe does not get more brazen than this. The Lokayukta police on Friday trapped a junior engineer of BBMP who had demanded sites at a ‘discounted rate’ from a family owning land, in exchange for regularising documents pertaining to that land.
Puttaiah, a resident of Kamakshipalya, had managed to secure ownership of 25 guntas of land in Kamakshipalya after a protracted court battle with BBMP. The engineer G R Nagaraj demanded a corner site measuring 41x43 sq feet formed in the said land be sold to his uncle at the rate of Rs 750 per sq ft.
The guidance value of the land in that area is Rs 1,430 per sq ft and the market value ranges between Rs 4,000 and 5,000 per sq ft.
Nagaraj threatened that if Puttaiah that if he did not agree to his demand, he would ensure that Puttaiah would be ensnared in another prolonged litigation in the court lasting 25 years.
A Lokayukta team comprising Inspectors S T Yogesh, Renuka Prasad and ST Wodeyar trapped the engineer at the office of the sub-registrar, Nagarbhavi, where he was present with a demand draft for Rs eight lakh Rs 5.5 lakh in cash to register the site in the name of his uncle, B Rangaswamy.
Nagaraj has been arrested and remanded in judicial custody.