Naib tehsildar’s reader caught with Rs 4000 and 4 kg peas

Mostly bribe takers demand cash, but this female reader of a naib tehsildar in Gorkhi, Gwalior district also demanded four kg of peas along with Rs 4,000 in cash from a farmer, who wanted to get his ancestral land transferred in his name.

The reader Anita Srivastava was caught red-handed by a team of Lokayukta police, Gwalior on Saturday when she kept the cash inside the bag with 4 kg of peas.

A Lokayukta police official said that the accused had initially demanded Rs 10,000 as bribe from farmer Nankishore Singh Lodhi for transferring 20 bigha (around 12 acre) of land in Lodhi and his brother’s name after their father’s death. However, she later whittled down her demand to Rs 6,000, of which Rs 2,000 was to be her share and the remaining for the naib tehsildar. Lodhi had complained to the Lokayukta police regarding the bribe demand.

On Friday Lodhi had paid her share of Rs 2000 and after receiving the bribe she asked which crop was growing in the land which was to be transferred. When Lodhi said it was peas, she demanded four kg of freshly plucked peas from the farm.

On Saturday afternoon, Lodhi came with the money and peas to her desk and the accused told him to place the money inside the bag containing the peas. The Lokayukta team that was standing by swooped in and arrested the reader.

The naib tehsildar Kuldeepak Kumar was not in the office when the bribe was taken, and Lokayukta police are trying to verify if he too was involved in the crime or not, a Lokayukta official said.