Monorail chief operating officer booked for making Rs 20 lakh bribe demand

The private company provided services to Monorail between January 2019 and August 2020

The Anti-Corruption Bureau has booked the chief operating officer of Monorail for allegedly demanding Rs 20 lakh to clear the bills of a private company. Sources said the anti-graft agency tried to catch the COO, Dr DLN Murthy, red-handed but could not succeed. It then registered a case under the Prevention of Corruption Act based on circumstantial evidence, which in this case is an audiotape. Following the ACB case, sources said, Monorail has also launched a departmental enquiry against Murthy.

An ACB officer said, "The team that went to trap him [Murthy] has his recordings of demanding the bribe but he never accepted the money. This is called a non-materialised trap as the acceptance is not there. So based on the recordings, a case of demanding a bribe has been registered against him."

According to the ACB, between January 2019 and August 2020, the private firm provided housekeeping, maintenance, customer services and cleaning under a contract signed with Monorail. ACB said that after the completion of the contract, Monorail authorities cleared a chunk of the complainant's bill of Rs 2.5 crore and a bank guarantee worth Rs 32 lakh.

"After making multiple rounds to Murthy, the amount of Rs 2.10 crore and Rs 22 lakh bank guarantee were cleared by Monorail in the month of June this year," reads the ACB statement. The agency said that when the complainant requested the release of the remaining Rs 40 lakh bill and bank guarantee of Rs 10 lakh, Murthy allegedly demanded a bribe of Rs 20 lakh. The private firm then filed a complaint against Murthy with ACB.

Sources said despite best efforts by the ACB, Murthy continued to play smart. "During the verification by the team which went along with the complainant posing as private persons, he was caught on tape asking for the money again, but he got suspicious and never accepted the bribe after which the case was registered against him based on the recording," added the officer.