Three panchayat officials arrested by ACB for accepting ₹2.5 lakh bribe

Three Panchayat officials, including a Mandal Parishad Development Officer, were arrested by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) on Wednesday, for demanding and accepting a bribe of ₹2.50 lakh from a complainant.

The accused officials were identified as Ponna Sumathi, Mandal Parishad Development Officer of Nandigama mandal, Vadthyavath Tej Singh, Mandal Panchayat Officer of Nandigama mandal, and Avula Chennaiah, Panchayat Secretary of Edulapally Panchayat.

According to the ACB, the officials had demanded a bribe for processing and issuing house building permissions for four plots for which the applicant had paid the requisite official fee. They accepted a part payment of ₹1 lakh through the Panchayat secretary, Chennaiah. An earlier amount of ₹1.50 lakh had already been collected by the MPDO and MPO through the same intermediary.

The tainted bribe amount of ₹1 lakh was recovered from the possession of the Panchayat Secretary at his instance. All three accused were arrested and produced before the special court for SPE and ACB cases at Nampally. The identity of the complainant has been withheld for security reasons.

The ACB has once again appealed to the public to report any demand for bribe by public servants by calling its toll-free number 1064, assuring that the identity of complainants will be kept confidential.