Coimbatore: A bill collector attached to the city corporation’s north zone office was arrested on Thursday for accepting a bribe of Rs25,000 from a local resident to hand over tax books for the newly constructed buildings.According to a Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) sleuth, they arrested S Dharmaraj, 52, based on a complaint lodged by V Arun Prasad, 38, of Gandhi Nagar. “An employee of a private firm, Prasad recently constructed a house and a commercial complex in his locality. To process the property tax assessment for the buildings, he approached Dharmaraj, a bill collector at the north zone corporation office, in Feb,” the officer said. While officials completed tax assessment and prepared two separate tax books – one for the residence and another for the commercial property – Dharmaraj refused to hand over the tax books and demanded a bribe of Rs25,000, the officer said. Unwilling to pay the bribe, Prasad, who paid around Rs1.5 lakh in property tax for the new buildings, approached DVAC and lodged a formal complaint on Wednesday. DVAC officials laid a trap and gave him chemical coated currency notes. On Thursday, Prasad handed over the marked notes to Dharmaraj at the north zone office. A DVAC team led by ADSP Rajesh, inspector Sheela and Ezhilarasi caught him red-handed. DVAC officials subsequently conducted searches at Dharmaraj’s office desk and residence. He was taken into custody, and further investigation is under way to find out whether other officials were involved in the bribery demand.
