Madikeri: The sleuths of Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) on Friday caught Virajpet Tahsildar and a Second Division Assistant (SDA) at the Tahsildar office while they were accepting bribe from a villager for granting permission for land conversion.

M.N. Narendra, a resident of Toochamakeri village in Virajpet taluk, had applied at the Deputy Commissioner’s (DC) office for conversion of his 20 cents of land. 

The DC later forwarded the application to the Virajpet Tahsildar for verification. Tahsildar Purandara and SDA Jagruth demanded Rs.9,000 bribe for processing the application.

Following the demand, Narendra gave the Tahsildar Rs.7,000 and kept pending the balance of Rs.2,000. 

Narendra then approached the ACB at Madikeri and lodged a complaint.

Tahsildar Purandara and SDA Jagruth were caught by the  ACB sleuths while accepting the bribe balance of Rs.2,000 from Narendra at the Tahsildar office in Virajpet yesterday.

The two were produced before the Court, which remanded them to judicial custody, it is learnt.

The operation was led by ACB Dy.SP Poornachandra Tejaswi and Inspectors Mahesh and Sridhar.

Meanwhile, it is learnt that Tahsildar Purandara has constructed a 3-storeyed building at Chikkalli village in Mysuru taluk.

Sources said that the construction is an unauthorised one and the building does not have any Government license.