Lokayukta cops on Sunday caught a police constable red-handed taking Rs 50,000 as a bribe from a private company employee accused of financial fraud.
Manje Gowda, 35, a resident of Magadi Main Road, was arrested in 2020 for scamming people through a merchandise purchase scheme. While he was still in prison, Mahesh S, 43, a head constable at the Ramanagar CEN Crime police station, approached him with an offer to bail him out of the case if he paid Rs 2.5 lakh.
Gowda agreed and paid the policeman Rs 75,000 as the first instalment. Mahesh helped Gowda come out of prison. However, Gowda was still required to visit the CEN Crime police station and sign on a register.
When Gowda visited the police station every week, the policeman harassed him, asking him to pay the remainder if he wanted to get a clean chit in the case.
Gowda didn't have money. He was so traumatised by the constable's harassment that he decided to approach the Lokayukta. "He said he would take his own life if we didn't rescue him from Mahesh," a senior Lokayukta police officer said.
Lokayukta police decided to lay a trap for Mahesh.
Srinath Mahadev Joshi, Superintendent of Police, Bengaluru Rural, who is also in charge of Ramanagar, said Mahesh had asked Gowda to bring the money to Vaishnavi Party Hall, Uttarahalli.
Mahesh came with a friend named Ramesh D, 53, on Sunday morning. Lokayukta police had given Gowda Rs 50,000 as bait for Mahesh.
Ramesh collected the money on behalf of Mahesh. That's when Lokayukta police officers, loitering nearby in plain clothes, surrounded Mahesh and Ramesh and apprehended them, Joshi said.
The officer noted that Mahesh appeared to be involved in multiple such cases and was being interrogated.
He has been booked under Section 7A of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
Published 16 July 2023, 18:58 IST