Thrissur (Kerala) | A vigilance court here on Tuesday sentenced a veterinary doctor to one year imprisonment for seeking a bribe from a farmer for conducting post-mortem of his dead buffaloes in connection with an insurance claim.

An officer of the Palakkad vigilance unit, which caught the veterinary doctor red-handed while accepting the bribe, said that the court also imposed a fine of Rs two lakh on the accused.

The vet was released on bail after the sentencing, the officer said.

The incident occurred in 2011 when the farmer approached the vet to conduct a post mortem of four or five of his buffaloes which had died so that he could make an insurance claim, the vigilance officer said.

The vet sought Rs 1,000 per buffalo to carry out the post-mortem.

Thereafter, the farmer told the vigilance unit which laid a trap for the vet and caught him red-handed, the officer added.