Saluru Municipal Commissioner in the custody of ACB

Saluru (Parvathipuram-Manyam district): The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) officials on Tuesday arrested Saluru Municipal Commissioner Hanumanthu Sankar Rao while accepting a bribe of Rs 1,50,000 to complete an official work. ACB DSP Ramachandra Rao said that contractor BVK Ramkumar (Ramanaji) of Saluru has built a house in Gorle Veedhi under Saluru municipality limits and applied for house tax proceedings to the Saluru municipal authorities. However, Saluru municipal authorities served a notice to Ramkumar as revenue officials raised a few objections to the construction of the building. Therefore, he approached the municipal commissioner H Sankar Rao to complete the official works pertaining to house tax. He appealed to Commissioner Sankar Rao to complete the house tax proceedings. The Commissioner Sankar Rao demanded Rs 4,00,000 as a bribe and finally agreed to take Rs 2,00,000 to complete the work. Therefore, Ramkumar has paid Rs 50,000 as an advance and received the house tax proceedings also. Later, Commissioner Sankar Rao exerted pressure on Ramkumar to pay the remaining amount. However, Ramkumar lodged a complaint with the ACB sleuths. After verifying the facts, ACB DSP Ramachandra Rao along with his team laid a trap and caught the municipal commissioner red-handed while accepting Rs 1,50,000 at his office on Tuesday. “The Municipal commissioner was arrested and he will be produced before ACB Judge Court in Visakhapatnam on Wedensday,” said ACB DSP Ramachandra Rao.