2 panchayat staff nabbed by ACB

Kothagudem: ACB sleuths caught a mandal panchayat officer and panchayat secretary red-handed in Allapalli mandal in Kothagudem district on Wednesday. Allapalli MPO Bathini Srinivas, who was acting as Markodu gram panchayat special officer, and the gram panchayat (GP) secretary Thati Nagaraju were caught receiving a bribe amount of Rs 15,000 from the complainant at the mandal panchayat office.

According to the ACB Khammam-Kothagudem DSP, Y Ramesh, acting at the directions of Srinivas, Nagaraju demanded the bribe from the complainant, Markodu, a former upa-sarpanch, and Kurra Kamala for sanctioning pending bills of the works executed by her husband K Yella Goud in 2019 and in 2024. They demanded a five per cent of the value of the works executed as a bribe. Both the accused were arrested and would be produced before the third additional sessions judge for SPE and ACB cases in Warangal, the DSP added.