Mahanandi AEO lands in ACB net

Kurnool: The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) officials caught Assistant Executive Officer (AEO) of Mahanandi temple red-handed while accepting a bribe of Rs 25,000 from a priest on Thursday.

According to ACB DSP C Jayarama Raju, Surendranath Sharma, who is working as a priest at Mahanandi temple, had filed a petition in the High Court of Hyderabad seeking revision in his pay scale.

The High Court directed the temple AEO V Dhanunjaya to submit a detailed report of Sharma’s pay scale. Instead of sending report to the High Court, the AEO demanded Sharma to pay him bribe of Rs 35,000 for submitting the report to the High Court.

Accompanied with his father, Surendranath approached the AEO and agreed to pay Rs 25,000. Sharma lodged a complaint with the ACB. On the directions of the ACB sleuths, he handed over the amount to AEO.

The ACB caught AEO while he was taking cash from the priest.  The DSP said amount was seized from the AEO and took him into custody. We filed a case and AEO would be produced in the ACB Court for further action, the DSP stated.