Mangaluru: Personnel of the Dakshina Kannada district Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) on Wednesday caught Gayathri N. Nayak, Special Land Acquisition Officer, National Highways, Mangaluru, and Tukrappa, Revenue Inspector, Mulki, while they were accepting ₹20,000 and ₹5,000 bribe, respectively, from a land loser.

The accused were arrested and produced before a jurisdictional magistrate court which remanded them in judicial custody till January 18, according to Sudhir Hegde, Deputy Superintendent of Police, ACB, Mangaluru.

The two were caught at the office of the SLAO located at Mini-Vidhana Soudha in the city at noon, he said. Mr. Hegde said that Yogish from Mulki was to receive a cheque for ₹ 18 lakh towards two cents of land acquired for four-lane work of the National Highway 66. However, Ms. Nayak, a Karnataka Administrative Service officer, allegedly demanded ₹20,000 bribe for herself and ₹ 5,000 for the Revenue Inspector to release the cheque. Mr. Yogish promptly approached the ACB and lodged a complaint. After registering the complaint, the ACB personnel used 12 notes in ₹2,000 denomination and two notes in ₹ 500 denomination to catch Ms. Nayak, Mr. Hegde said.

Ms. Nayak is also the Executive Director of Dr. K. Shivaram Karanth Pilikula Nisargadhama at Pilikula.