Thiruvananthapuram | A Deputy General Manager of the Indian Oil Corporation has been arrested while allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 2 lakh from a gas agency owner here, officials said.

Alex Mathew, the DGM at IOC's Ernakulam office, was caught red-handed at the complainant's residence in Kuravankonam around 7.30 pm on Saturday by officers of the Special Investigation Unit-1 of the Vigilance Department, an official statement said. According to the Vigilance Department, Matthew had allegedly demanded Rs 10 lakh from the complainant to prevent the transfer of customers from his wife's IOC-licensed gas agency to other agencies.

When the complainant refused, the official allegedly transferred 1,200 connections to other agencies, it said.

The accused later warned the complainant that more customer connections would be reassigned if the bribe was not paid upon his visit to Thiruvananthapuram on Saturday.

Following the threat, the gas agency owner informed the Vigilance Department, which laid a trap and arrested Mathew while accepting the bribe, the statement said.

The accused will be produced before a vigilance court, it added.