Daijiworld Media Network – Mangalore (SP)

Mangalore, Mar 11: Acting on a complaint received from Krishnamurty Bhat from Kedila village that Guddappa Rai, president of Kedila gram panchayat, has been pestering him for payment of a bribe of Rs 40,000 to release a grant of Rs 10 lac towards building Rajiv Gandhi Service Centre in front of the panchayat office, the Lokayukta policemen trapped Rai while accepting the bribe on Thursday March 10.

Bhat is one of the persons employed for constructing the said building. Marcel Pais had supplied materials for the construction, and the gram panchayat had released Rs 1.38 lac towards the same. After that, Bhat had taken over the work of completing the building. After some deliberations, the complainant said he had agreed to pay Rs 25,000 as illegal gratification, and offered to pay first instalment of Rs 10,000 to Rai on Thursday.

The Lokayukta office here, which received a complaint from Bhat, raided the spot when Rai accepted Rs 10,000 from Bhat and kept it in his shirt pocket. The raiding party was led by Lokayukta superintendent of police, D S Jagamayyanavar. Rai was arrested. Further action is being taken.

Deputy superintendent of police, S M Varnekar, police inspectors, Uday M Nayak, Dileep Kumar, Lakshmikant and other personnel were involved with the investigation, informed the Lokayukta superintendent of police.