Satna civic chief caught taking Rs 12 lakh, jewellery as bribe

The Satna municipal commissioner was today arrested while allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 12 lakh in cash and jewellery worth Rs 10 lakh by the Lokayukta Police of Madhya Pradesh.

Municipal Commissioner Surendra Kumar Kathuriya was caught at his official residence taking a bribe of Rs 12 lakh and jewellery said to be of gold worth Rs 10 lakh, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) of Lokayukta, Divesh Pathak said.

Kathuriya had demanded Rs 40 lakh in cash and Rs 10 lakh worth of gold jewellery from a nursing home owner for not dismantling parts of its building that had allegedly been built illegally, he said.

The Satna municipal corporation had earlier sent a demolition notice to the nursing home, the officer said.

The commissioner, a state administrative service officer, demanded the bribe from the nursing home owner for not razing the unauthorised parts of the medical facility, Pathak said.

The nursing home owner, however, expressed his inability to pay such a huge bribe amount (total Rs 50 lakh) but agreed to pay a part of it, he said.

Later, he tipped off the Lokayukta Police about the bribe demand and the anti-corruption watchdog laid a trap and caught Kathuria accepting the cash and the jewellery from the nursing home owner, the DSP said.

The accused has been booked under the Prevention of Corruption Act, he added.

(This article has not been edited by DNA's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)