M'luru: VA officer caught red-handed by Lokayukta while accepting bribe

Mangaluru: Lokayukta officials arrested a village administrative officer of Chelyar village after he was caught taking bribe to issue a death certificate.

The accused has been identified as Vijith.

The complainant had visited the Chelyar gram panchayat office in September last year to apply for his grandfather’s death certificate and the ‘santati nakshe’ (family tree) as he wanted to sell 42 cents of ancestral land belonging to his mother to his neighbours.

The man visited the VA office 2-3 times to know the status of his application but got no response from Vijith. On November 20 when he called the office again, Vijith informed that the certificate was ready and he could come to collect it.

However, when the complainant went to the office on November 22, Vijith asked for money to hand over the death certificate.

The man later complained about the matter to the Lokayukta and a trap was laid for the VA officer. Accordingly, the complainant went to his office to collect the certificate. The Lokayukata raided the office and caught Vijith while accepting the bribe.