A town planning inspector and chainman at the then Erode municipal office were on Tuesday sentenced to three years rigorous imprisonment for demanding and accepting bribe to issue building licence in 2007.
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S. Srinivasan of Kamachikadu approached V. Venkatesan, Town Planning Inspector at the municipal office, for a building licence and building plan approval in the name of his mother. The officer demanded ₹5,000 for it. Mr. Srinivasan alerted the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) sleuths, who laid a trap.
On January 31, 2007, the complainant gave the money to Venkatesan at his office who in turn asked Ravi, chainman at the Town Planning Section, to keep the money. Sleuths caught them red-handed. A case was registered and both were arrested.
Chief Judicial Magistrate C.M. Saravanan found them guilty and sentenced them to undergo three years rigorous imprisonment with a fine of ₹5,000 for demanding money and another three years with a fine of ₹5,000 for receiving bribe. The magistrate ordered that the sentences would run concurrently.