Rs 70 lakh seized from RTO officer’s residence in Mangaluru

Bengaluru: The Karnataka Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) on Monday raided the residence of Udupi deputy regional transport officer RM Varnekar. The ACB seized as much as Rs 70 lakh cash, property documents and other materials.

Varnekar, his security guard at the Regional Transport Office (RTO) and Varnekar’s agent were arrested on charges of accepting a bribe of Rs 4,000 rupees from a techie whose car was gutted in the blaze at the Aero India show.

The techie, identified as Vignesh, allegedly bribed them to clear his vehicle’s road tax documents.

Vignesh had allegedly purchased the car just a month ago and was eligible to get the road tax refund. He had applied for getting relevant documents from the transport office.

Varnekar and Munaf had allegedly demanded 10% of the amount as bribe and the techie refused to pay the bribe and brought the matter to the ACB’s notice.

ACB said that cash bundles were hidden in different parts of the Mangaluru house including the cupboard and table drawers.