VIJAYAPURA: In a stinging exposé of the rot within Excise Department, a woman officer has been caught on camera demanding her share of monthly bribe from bar owners in Muddebihal.
In the video, which has now gone viral, Excise Inspector Jyothi Metri can be heard saying that the Excise minister, the excise deputy commissioner and the joint commissioner are duly getting their cuts, but only she is getting it. “Vijayapura, Sindagi, Indi taluks are done with. Even the JC has been dealth with. All have been updated and renewals done. But you are holding back only my share”, she tells a group of bar owners who met her.
“Even villages give Rs 20,000 each (for unauthorised vends). I want my share of Rs 15,000 for the month of July. When I was sub-inspector, I have taken Rs 10,000 from Nagesh (a bar owner)”, she can be heard saying.
When one of the bar owners suggest that she forego the July share as bar owners faced problems, and promises to ensure that her cut reaches her by the 20th of every month, she insists that she will not let go of that month’s share, saying that she too has problems of her own. “This is our only source. If you people create problems, where do we go?” she asks.
In the video, the excise inspector and bar owners can also be heard discussing how the cut will be reached to her. When a bar owners suggests to her to tell the minister that she is not getting the ‘M’ (monthly) properly and that she cannot make payments, Jyothi Metri replies saying, “I stood for two hours at the Malaghan IB (Inspection Bungalow) and explained, but I was told to make the payments later”.
The video exposes the rampant corruption in the Excise Department with the inspector herself giving details about the percentage of cuts at all levels. If laksh and lakhs of rupees are being taken as bribes in Vijayapura district alone, one can imagine the scale of corruption at the state-level.