Forest Beat Officer, his intermediary held for bribery in Kothagudem

A forest beat officer, Banoth Ravi Kumar, was arrested by the ACB in Allapalli mandal, Bhadradri Kothagudem district, for demanding and accepting a bribe of Rs. 30,000 through an intermediary.

Kothagudem: The sleuths of Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) have caught a forest beat officer in a bribe case in Allapalli mandal in the district on Thursday.

According to ACB officials, the accused forest beat officer, Banoth Ravi Kumar demanded Rs 30,000 to refrain from digging a trench on a Podu land being cultivated by the complainant in Kachanpalli forest range.

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Ravi Kumar was caught while he was receiving the bribe amount through an intermediary at Ramanujagudem village in the mandal. The intermediary Sadiq and the forest beat officer were taken into custody while seizing the tainted money.

The duo would be produced before the ACB court in Warangal, officials said. This marks the fourth corruption case involving the forest department staff in the district raising alarm over increasing corruption in the department.  

The ACB officials caught the TGFDC (Telangana State Forest Development Corporation) Kothagudem divisional manager on January 3, forest beat officer (FBO) at Gundala on April 30; Bhadrachalam forest divisional officer (FDO) and Tegada deputy range officer (DRO) on May 7 in bribe cases.