Forest officer caught by ACB while accepting bribe

Kakinada, Feb 08: The Anti-Corruption Bureau officials caught M. Gautham Vara Prasad, section officer at the Forest Range Office here on Wednesday, while he was accepting a bribe of Rs. 20,000 from Ch. Parthasarathi, proprietor of a timber depot, Pithapuram, Kakinada.

According to the ACB DSP Meka Sudhakar, Vara Prasad conducted an inspection on the timber depot belonged to Mr. Parthasarathi and expressed doubts that some irregularities were taking place in the maintenance of the accounts.

He locked the depot and took the keys with him. When Mr. Parthasarathi approached the officer for keys, the latter reported demanded a bribe. Subsequently, the timber merchant approached the ACB officials, who laid a trap on the forest officer.

On Wednesday afternoon, Mr. Parthasarathi offered cash to the tune of Rs. 20,000 to Vara Prasad at the latter's residence at Indira Nagar in the city. The ACB officials conducted a raid and tested the hands of the accused.

"Both the hands yielded a positive result. We have registered a case, besides recovering the cash," Mr. Sudhakar told media.