Kasaragod (Kerala) | The VACB has arrested an agent who allegedly accepted a bribe on behalf of survey officials to remeasure and rectify land records following errors in a re-survey here, officials said on Sunday.

The accused has been identified as Hashim P H, a native of Uduma in Kasaragod district.

He was caught red-handed while accepting Rs 15,000 as a bribe on Saturday, an officer said.

According to VACB officials, a property measuring 2.40 acres owned by the complainant, a native of Periya in Kasaragod, was wrongly recorded as 1.89 acres after the re-survey.

About six months ago, the complainant approached the Kanhangad taluk survey office seeking correction of the error. At that time, Hashim, who prepares applications outside the survey office and functions as an agent, drafted the complaint on his behalf, officials said.

Although survey officials later conducted a site inspection, no action was taken on the complaint even after six months.

When the complainant again visited the survey office to enquire about the delay, he met Hashim, who allegedly told him that merely submitting a complaint would not yield results and that the issue could be resolved only by paying money to the officials.

VACB officials said that Hashim allegedly demanded Rs 30,000, claiming he had good connections with the officials and had settled similar cases earlier by paying bribes.

After the complainant expressed his inability to pay the amount, the demand was reduced to Rs 20,000, VACB said.

Hashim allegedly collected Rs 5,000 as the first instalment through Google Pay and asked the complainant to hand over the remaining Rs 15,000 in person on December 27.

Unwilling to pay the bribe, the complainant informed the Deputy Superintendent of Police at the Kasaragod VACB.

Acting on the complaint, the Vigilance team laid a trap and caught Hashim red-handed as he accepted Rs 15,000 from the complainant at the Kanhangad Mini Civil Station compound on Saturday evening, officials said.

The accused will be produced before the court on Sunday.

VACB is also probing the alleged links between Hashim and survey officials, officials added.