Bengaluru: Lokayukta sleuths Saturday arrested a deputy commissioner of excise and two of his colleagues after catching them red-handed taking a Rs 25-lakh bribe to clear liquor and microbrewery licences.Deputy commissioner Jagadeesh Naik, 57, superintendent of excise Thammanna KM, 41, and excise constable Lakkappa Gani, 31, were trapped around 12.30pm inside Naik’s chamber at the Bengaluru Urban district excise office on Mysuru Road. The action followed a complaint from an individual who alleged that the trio had demanded money to issue a CL-7 licence, which permits the serving of liquor in hotels and boarding houses, and a microbrewery licence.According to Lokayukta police, Naik initially demanded Rs 80 lakh to clear the licences. After negotiations, the amount was allegedly fixed at Rs 75 lakh, with Rs 50 lakh to be paid as advance. Acting on the complaint, a trap was laid by a Lokayukta team headed by superintendent of police Shivaprakash Devaraju.In his complaint filed on Jan 16, the complainant said he met Naik in Nov to seek permission to start a microbrewery at Hulimavu on Bannerghatta Road. “The application documents were handed over to superintendent Thammanna. On Jan 6, I paid the official govt fees amounting to Rs 14.6 lakh online and informed Naik that all the formalities had been completed,” he stated in the complaint.The complainant alleged that Naik then demanded the bribe, saying the money “must reach the minister and other officials” for the work to be done. He further claimed that Thammanna told him that issuing a microbrewery licence could cost around Rs 1.5 crore and listed several officials, including senior excise and revenue officers, as beneficiaries. He was warned that the licence would not be issued unless the demanded amount was paid.The complainant said he recorded his conversations with the officials on his mobile phone, transferred the audio files to a pen drive and submitted them as evidence along with his complaint. Based on this, Lokayukta police registered an FIR under the Prevention of Corruption Act against Naik and Thammanna. “We arrested all three accused while they were accepting the bribe,” a senior Lokayukta officer said. Investigation into the matter will continue.
