Telangana Officials Take Rs 20 Lakh Bribe For Land Survey Report, Arrested

The Telangana Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) has arrested a tahsildar and a mandal surveyor for allegedly demanding and accepting a Rs 20 lakh bribe to conduct a land survey and issue a joint inspection survey report required for a proposed layout in Rangareddy district. 

The accused were later produced before a court in Hyderabad, which remanded them to judicial custody.

According to the ACB, tahsildar B. Sudershan Reddy and mandal surveyor Batuka Srinivasulu had allegedly demanded Rs 30 lakh from the complainant to facilitate the land survey and issue the report needed under Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) guidelines. The amount was later reduced to Rs 20 lakh after negotiations.

Acting on the complaint, ACB officials, along with the bureau's Central Investigation Unit (CIU), laid a trap on Monday.

The agency alleged that the mandal surveyor accepted the bribe amount on the instructions of the tahsildar. The money was recovered from the surveyor during the operation.

The ACB said a chemical test conducted on the surveyor's fingers yielded a positive result, indicating contact with the chemically treated currency notes.

Following the operation, both officials were arrested and produced before the Special Court in Hyderabad's Nampally. The court subsequently sent them to judicial custody.