Daijiworld Media Network – Mangaluru

Mangaluru, Mar 2: In a swift operation, the Mangaluru Lokayukta police trapped a second division assistant (SDA) attached to the Public Works Department (PWD) while he was allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 22,600 on Monday, March 2.

The accused has been identified as Sampath, an SDA working in the office of the assistant executive engineer, electrical sub-division, PWD, Mangaluru.

The trap was laid following a complaint by a first-class electrical contractor. The complainant had executed government projects involving the extension of street lights under various gram panchayats in Udupi district during 2025. To clear the pending bills for this work, Sampath had allegedly demanded a bribe calculated at 4% of the bill amount, totalling Rs 22,600.

Unwilling to pay the bribe, the contractor approached the Lokayukta police. Acting on the complaint, a team of officials conducted a raid on March 2. Sampath was caught red-handed while accepting the bribe amount of Rs 22,600 from the complainant. The bribe money was recovered, and the accused was taken into custody for further investigation.

The operation was carried out under the guidance of BP Dinesh Kumar, superintendent of police, Karnataka Lokayukta, Mangaluru division. The team was supervised by deputy superintendents of police Suresh Kumar P and Dr Gana P Kumar, along with police inspector Bharati G.

Police inspector Chandrashekhar KN led the trap team, which included personnel Rajappa, Mahesh, Adarsh, Rama Nayak, Ganganna, Mahadeva, Pavitra, Lakshmi, Ravi Pawar, and Naveen.