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Bengaluru: A Bengaluru court convicted a former special tahsildar and his private assistant on charges of bribery on Wednesday. The convicts are B S Venkatachalapathy, the then special tahsildar of Bengaluru South taluk and Madhusudhan BR alias Madhu.
According to a statement by the Karnataka Lokayukta, the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) arrested the two in 2017. In 2022, the Karnataka High Court dissolved the ACB, restored the powers of the Lokayukta police wing and transferred all pending cases to the latter.
The ACB had caught Madhusudhan when he accepted a bribe of Rs 5 lakh at the behest of Venkatachalapathy. The Ombudsman said that a case regarding one acre and 37 guntas land in 2013-14 was being heard by Venkatachalapathy before his arrest.
According to the complainant, after the death of his father, he submitted a petition on August 18, 2016, to Venkatachalapathy’s office seeking a speedy disposal. The complainant alleged that when he met Venkatachalapathy at a later time, he was asked to meet with Madhusudhan.
It was further alleged that Madhusudhan at the behest of Venkatachalapathy demanded Rs 20 lakh to settle the matter in the complainant’s favour. In another meeting with Venkatachalapathy, Rs 15 lakh was demanded. The complainant was asked to pay Rs 5 lakh as advance for a favourable decision and when the rest was paid, the order copy would be issued.
The complainant approached the ACB and a case was lodged on December 15, 2017, under relevant sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, including criminal misconduct by a public servant.
On December 18, 2017, the ACB sleuths set up the trap and caught Madhusudhan red-handed while accepting Rs 5 lakh. The charge sheet was subsequently submitted.
The XXIII Addl City Civil and Sessions (CCH-24) Judge KM Radhakrishna found the accused guilty.
Venkatachalapathy was sentenced to three years of rigorous imprisonment with a fine of Rs 7 lakh. Madhusudhan was also sentenced to three years of rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs 40,000.
If Venkatachalapathy and Madhusudhan fail to pay the fine amount, the court ordered six and three months of simple imprisonment, respectively.