Vijayawada: Assistant Public Prosecutor in ACB net

Vijayawada: The Anti-corruption Bureau (ACB) officials on Monday raided the office of the Excise Court Assistant Public Prosecutor in Machilipatnam and caught court constable Banavatu Balakrishna red handed, while accepting a bribe of Rs 90,000 on behalf of Court Assistant Public Prosecutor J Vijayalakshmi of Judicial First Class Magistrate Court in Machilipatnam in Krishna district.

According to the ACB, the Assistant Public Prosecutor has demanded a Rs 90,000 bribe to take an advance petition from the victim and give up the evidence by the witnesses. The victim lodged a complaint to the ACB officials, who raided the excise police station on Monday and caught the constable red handed while accepting the bribe.

Varre Murali Krishna, a resident of Machilipatnam, has a dispute with his wife. The wife lodged a complaint in the local police station. Subsequently, the police registered FIR. Later, the couple compromised due to the counselling given by the community elders. Assistant Public Prosecutor of Judicial First Class Magistrate Court J Vijayalakshmi has demanded Rs 90,000 to take the advanced petition from the victim and to drop the evidence given by the witness in the case. As per the demand, the victim went to the Excise police station and handed over cash of Rs 90,000 to court constable Banavatu Balakrishna. The ACB officials caught Balakrishna red handed and arrested him. Both constable and assistant public prosecutor were arrested and will be produced in the court.

DGP K Rajendranath Reddy has appealed to the people to call 14400 or meet the ACB officials if they face harassment from the government officials and staff for bribes.