Mysuru: Initially, the bribe amount demanded by the CNNL officials — Executive Engineer Kaveri Ranganath and Accounts Superintendent Uma Mahesh — was Rs. 1,45,000, roughly 6 percent of the pending Rs. 23,10,000 bill.

However, the Executive Engineer and the Accounts Superintendent later allegedly insisted that contractor Abdul Aziz pay 10 percent, raising the demand to Rs. 2,31,000.

Accompanied by Lokayukta officers in plain clothes, Abdul Aziz visited the CNNL Office in Nanjangud and said, “I have brought Rs. 1,45,000 as you asked. Please issue the cheque for the pending bill.” But the officials reportedly refused, demanding the full 10 percent — Rs. 2,31,000 — before releasing the payment.

After nearly 10 minutes of back-and-forth, Aziz offered a compromise: “Take Rs. 1,45,000 now. I’ll pay the remaining tomorrow.”

Only after this assurance did the officials accept the cash and begin counting it. At that moment, Lokayukta Police, who had been recording the entire conversation for about 10 minutes, caught Kaveri Ranganath and Uma Mahesh red-handed.

Later in the evening, raids were conducted at Kaveri Ranganath’s residence near Bogadi and Uma Mahesh’s house in Siddharthanagar. Searches continued late into the night.