Overview
- ACB officers caught Forest Beat Officer Banoth Naresh accepting ₹10,000 at his Gundala office Thursday, according to official statements.
- Investigators say he sought the payment to avoid stopping cultivation on five acres of patta podu land that the government had assigned to the complainant’s father in Venkatapuram.
- Officers recovered the tainted cash from Naresh’s possession after the trap operation.
- He was produced before the Special Judge for SPE and ACB cases in Warangal as the investigation continues.
- Naresh serves in the Nadigudem section and holds charge of Sayanapalli in the Gundala forest range, where patta podu allocations near forest tracts can lead to friction over who may farm.