Government officials frequently land in ACB trap

The Anti-Corruption Bureau has trapped 11 officials in the first five months of 2026, highlighting persistent bribery among government employees. Officials are increasingly using UPI transactions and assistants’ accounts to avoid detection, even as the ACB intensifies anti-corruption operations

Karimnagar: Though the Anti-Corruption Bureau sleuths have intensified traps, the corrupt attitude among government officials has not come down. Instead of staying away from bribes, corruption among officials seems to have increased in the recent past. The trapping of 11 officials by the ACB within a span of five months is a classic example of how rampant corruption has become among officials.

Two officials and their assistants were trapped within two days. ACB sleuths on Friday trapped Saidapur mandal surveyor Kumaraswamy and two of his assistants while accepting a Rs 10,000 bribe from a farmer, Mahender. The farmer approached the official to survey his land. The surveyor, who had already taken a Rs 15,000 bribe, insisted on payment of another Rs 10,000. Unable to pay the bribe, the farmer approached the ACB police.

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On Thursday, Forest Range Officer in Kodimial, Gulam Moinuddin, was trapped while accepting a Rs 80,000 bribe. The official demanded a Rs 2 lakh bribe from a person from Himmathraopet of Mallial mandal to give permission to chop down 120 teak trees grown on his own land and agreed to accept Rs 1.80 lakh. The victim, who had already paid Rs 1 lakh, approached the ACB as the FRO mounted pressure for the remaining amount.

On April 16, Huzurabad Municipal Executive Engineer Sudhakar Reddy was also trapped while accepting a Rs 50,000 bribe from a contractor. On the other hand, corrupt officials are utilising advanced technology to escape ACB traps. Instead of taking cash directly, the officials are asking victims to send the bribe amount through the Unified Payments Interface (UPI).

Usually, ACB sleuths trap officials while they are accepting currency notes laced with chemical powder from victims. Besides other evidence, fingerprints of officials found on currency notes are strong evidence for the ACB to prove the case in court. To avoid this, officials are asking victims to send the bribe amount through UPI platforms such as PhonePe, Google Pay, Paytm and others.

Taking more precautions, instead of using mobile numbers linked to their bank accounts, officials are asking victims to transfer the amount to the mobile numbers of their private assistants.