Lokayukta police trap 'bribe-taking' officer

The Lokayukta police caught an official of the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board when he was allegedly accepting a bribe on Tuesday.

According to Lokayukta police, P K Nagaraj and his friend Akmal Ahmed had obtained permission from MTR company to treat sewage water at Eco Farm. But in May last year, Ramesh, the chief environmental officer at KSPCB, inspected the site and asked them to stop the activity and issued a notice.

Later, Ramaswamy, the complainant and a relative of Nagaraj, met Ramesh and asked him to inspect the site again and grant them permission. But Ramesh, on February 13, demanded a bribe of Rs 3 lakh to settle the matter, the police said.

The complainant approached the Lokayukta police and filed a complaint. The Lokayukta police laid a trap and caught Ramesh red-handed while accepting a bribe of Rs 50,000 as advance at a hotel in Vasanthnagar. The bribe amount has been confiscated and the accused arrested, police said.