Man burns bribe amount to avoid being caught

A man, who was “instructed” by a tahsildar to collect "bribe" amount of ₹5 lakh allegedly burnt the currency notes at his house in Nagarkurnool district on Tuesday to avoid being caught by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), the agency said.

While 46 currency notes of ₹2,000 denomination (amounting to ₹92,000) from the total bribe amount of ₹5 lakh were completely burnt, remaining notes in denomination of ₹500 and of ₹2,000 were partially burnt, a senior ACB official said.

The tahsildar of Veldanda mandal had allegedly asked the man (a private person) to collect the bribe from the complainant for doing an official favour, an ACB release said here.

The official favour was to issue NoC and forward it to the Mines and Geology department for grant of quarry lease licence to the complainant.

Based on the complaint, the ACB officials took up investigation.

At the time of the trap, on suspecting the arrival of the ACB officials, the private person, in order to avoid being caught by ACB officials, bolted the door of his house from inside and burnt the bribe amount on a gas stove in the kitchen.

ACB officials recovered only partially burnt currency notes from the man's house and took him into custody.

The tahsildar was also subsequently taken into custody, an ACB official said.