Mangaluru, september 20, 2024: Lokayukta officials of Mangaluru on Thursday caught Nagaraju, junior engineer at Kinnigoli Town Panchayat, and M.R. Swamy, chief officer of the same panchayat, while allegedly receiving bribe from a Class I PWD contractor for passing a Bill.
A Lokayukta release said that the junior engineer had demanded ₹52,000 bribe for passing the Bill of ₹9.77 lakh for developing a government water body S. Kodi under the Fifth Finance Commission grants of 2022-23, under the jurisdiction of the panchayat. In that ₹37,000 was for himself and the remaining ₹15,000 to the chief officer. The contractor had paid ₹7,000 to Nagaraju earlier. The junior egineer was caught while accepting the balance ₹30,000 from the contractor on Thursday. Swamy was caught while accepting ₹15,000. They were arrested.