Mangaluru: A senior pharmacist at the Employees State Insurance (ESI) dispensary at Panambur was caught red-handed by the Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB), while allegedly accepting a bribe on Saturday.

The arrested accused is Vishnumurthy, and he had allegedly accepted a bribe of Rs 2,000, for sanctioning a medical bill submitted by an ESI member. The victim had filed a complaint with the ACB.

He was suffering from a kidney ailment, and his wife was working in a bakery, and they had ESI membership. On the advice of a doctor, he was availing of medicines and an injection from the ESI dispensary in Panambur, and was later undergoing dialysis at the KMC Hospital.

In case the medicines were not available at the dispensary, he was purchasing them from outside, and later handing over the bill to the dispensary, for remitting the amount to the account of his wife.