Villager Revenue Officer caught accepting bribe in Andhra Pradesh

Rajavaram Village Revenue Officer (VRO) on Tuesday caught in Visakhapatnam by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) while he was allegedly accepting Rs 14,000 bribe from a farmer, police said.

VRO who has asked for a bribe of Rs 14,000 from a farmer named Vanka Ramana for online mutation of land. The ACB officials recovered the bribe amount from accused, ACB Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) K Ranga Raju said.

Ramana of Rajavaram village and his brother along with the two sons of their deceased brother shared hereditary land of 2.2 acres amongst themselves. "They had applied for online mutation six months ago and spoke to VRO in that regard," Raju said.

"He demanded Rs 20,000 bribe at first and when they said they cannot afford to pay that much he brought it down to Rs 12,000 and finally settled for Rs 7,000. However the VRO conducted online mutation for only 1.57 acres of land and when Vanka Ramana and others applied for mutation of the remaining land, the VRO demanded another Rs 7,000 from them.

"Compelled to pay Rs 14,000, Ramana filed a complained with ACB on Monday and was caught red handed today while taking bribe of Rs 14,000," the ACB senior official said.

( With inputs from ANI )