Bribery: Two-year jail term for Palike engineer

The Special Lokayukta Court on Tuesday sentenced a junior engineer of Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to two-year imprisonment for accepting a bribe of Rs 50,000.

In 2008, Kathyayini, who was renovating her apartment on Langford Road, lodged a complaint with the Lokayukta police stating that a person by name Krishna had seized the construction equipment and told her to meet him at the Palike office, if she wanted it back.

When Kathyayini went to the Shanthinagar BBMP office, Krishna demanded Rs 50,000 to allow her to continue the renovation work.

When she visited the office after lodging a complaint with the Lokayukta police, she realised that it was, in fact, Venkatesh who was the engineer and not Krishna, a mere agent.

Venkatesh refused to touch the money and directed her to place the money under a file on the table.

Once she placed the amount, Venkatesh signalled to Krishna and immediately, Krishna ran out of the office with the money.

Money recovered

While Venkatesh was arrested immediately, the money was recovered later from his scooter.

During the trial, Venkatesh tried to put the blame on Krishna, stating that the latter had demanded the bribe and that he did not even know Krishna.

However, Lokayukta Special Public Prosecutor K Mahalakshmi established that Venkatesh not only knew Krishna, but also that he had handled the bribe money, as the chemical examination test clearly proved that Venkatesh’s hands had traces of phenolphthalein powder, which was coated on the bribe money.

Judge N K Sudhindra Rao sentenced Venkatesh to two years rigorous imprisonment for abusing his position as a public servant and one year rigorous imprisonment for accepting a bribe. Both sentences will run concurrently. A fine of Rs 50,000 was also slapped on him.