Bengaluru civic body engineer caught red-handed taking ₹10 lakh bribe, arrested

In a significant corruption crackdown, Lokayukta officials apprehended H V Yarappa Reddy, a senior BBMP engineer, while accepting a ₹10 lakh bribe.

Lokayukta officials in Bengaluru on Wednesday arrested a senior Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) officer after he was caught red handed while taking a bribe of ₹10 lakh. The BBMP was Bengaluru's civic and administrative agency till May 15, and was replaced by the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA).

A BBMP engineer had demanded a bribe of ₹10 lakh from a contractor to clear his pending bill. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

The official has been identified as H V Yarappa Reddy by news agency PTI. He was the executive engineer of the BBMP's C V Raman Nagar Division, and had reportedly demanded the bribe from a contractor in return for clearing a pending bill. He was caught in the act by the Lokayukta police.

Officials were alerted by the contractor, Hemanth G M, who had earlier filed a complaint with the Lokayukta, stating that the engineer had demanded a bribe to process his payment. Following the complaint, the Lokayukta sleuths set up a trap and caught the engineer during the transaction.

Authorities confirmed that the ₹10 lakh in bribe money was recovered and has been secured for further legal action. The engineer has been taken into custody and is currently being questioned.

Why the BBMP had to go

The BBMP has not had an election since the term of its council expired in September 2020, has been under fire for a horde of infrastructural woes in the tech hub, especially during monsoons when the city experiences flooding and waterlogging every year.

However, it continues to govern the Karnataka capital until the complete establishment of the GBA. In this light, state DCM DK Shivakumar highlighted that the municipal corporation needs to be created in the next four months, and the number of municipalities that need to be created should be discussed.

(With inputs from PTI)