ACB caught a Forest Section Officer (FSO), Anantagiri mandal in the district for demanding and accepting a bribe of Rs 9,000 at S Kota in Vizianagaram district today.
The accused FSO was identified as S Subba Rao, the Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) said.
The complainant N Prasad Rao, a contract teacher and Jakarivalasa area of Anantagiri in the Agency area of visakhapatnam had illegally procured four teak logs from a farmer for making doors and windows of the house that he was constructing at Borra Caves Junction, DSP of Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB), Visakhapatnam, K Ramakrishna Prasad said.
"He used two of the logs and the other two was lying at his compound. Seeing the two logs at the spot, Subba Rao accused him of procuring the logs illegally and threatened to book a case against him," he said.
The FSO demanded Rs 25,000 as bribe for not booking a case against him and imposed a penalty for procuring the teak logs illegally and after few negotiations, the FSO agreed to settle at Rs 10,000 and already took Rs 2,000 as part payment, the officer said.
Prasad Rao approached the ACB officials and after verifying the facts, the team laid a trap and caught the FSO red-handed while he was accepting the bribe.
Further investigation is on.
