Investigators of the Anti-Corruption Bureau on Wednesday arrested two officials of the Kandla Port Trust in Kutch, Gujarat, for accepting a bribe of over Rs. 4 lakh entirely in the new Rs. 2,000 notes, as well as a tout.
The arrested officials, Superintending Engineer P Srivivasu and Sub Divisional officer K Komtekar of the Kandla Port Trust, sought Rs. 4.4 lakh in bribe to clear the bills of a private electrical firm.
“We laid a trap after the company filed a complaint. One middleman Rudreshwar was caught receiving 124 notes of Rs. 2000 denomination on behalf of one Srinivanshu, a superintendent engineer of KPT. After accepting the payment, the middleman confirmed receiving the payment to the engineer on mobile,” said H M Kansagra, Police Inspector, ACB.
KPT Superintendent Engineer Srinivanshu and Sub-Divisional Officer A Kumteshwar had sent middleman Rudreshwar Sunamudi to collect the bribe. Sunamudi received Rs. 1.5 lakh allegedly for Kumtekar and Rs. 2.5 lakh for Shrinivasu, after which the middleman confirmed the transaction to the engineer on the phone.
The ACB officials were surprised to see the entire amount being paid with the new currency notes. The investigators were tipped off by the electric firm’s owners. In addition, Rs. 40,000 was also recovered from the home of one of the two arrested port trust employee.
KPT is the country’s largest public sector port located in Kutch.
On November 12, a senior assistant of Kolhapur zilla parishad in Maharashtra was arrested for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 35,000. It contained 17 newly introduced Rs 2,000 currency notes.
