Food Department Officers held for bribery

A designated officer and food safety officer of the Food Safety and Drug Administration Department here were arrested on Monday for demanding and accepting bribe to issue a licence to a businessman to establish a tender coconut beverage company at Sathumadurai on the outskirt of Vellore. This was the third such incident when the Vellore unit of the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) set a trap to nab  errant officials on the premises of Vellore Collectorate in the last eight months. Earlier, the wing had arrested superintendent of stamps Vidhya (35) and deputy BDO cadre of Social Welfare Department Saradha, for demanding and accepting bribe.Ziaulla, a resident of Sathumadurai in Kaniyambadi block lodged a complaint with deputy superintendent of police of DVAC M Balasubramanian, against designated officer Dr M S Sampath Kumar (36) and food safety officer K Anbazhagan (47). Ziaulla, in his complaint, stated that he had approached the two officials a couple of days ago for a licence to establish a tender coconut beverage company. However, the officials demanded a bribe of `50,000. After bargaining they settled for a bribe of `35,000, DVAC officials said.
Registering a case in this regard, the DVAC officials laid a trap and handed over chemical coated currency notes to Ziaulla. Anbazhagan took Ziaulla into Sampath Kumar’s office to receive the money.“While Sampath Kumar took `25,000, Anbazhagan took his share of `10,000,” the officials said.
The sleuths of the special wing, who were discreetly monitoring the activities outside Sampath Kumar’s office from the  ‘A’ block in the Collectorate, swiftly acted and caught the two officials red-handed when they were receiving the bribe. The DVAC registered a case under the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act and remanded them.
Source:http://newindianexpress.com