KOPPAL: Officials of the Regional Transport Office were caught red-handed by some media persons while they were accepting bribes from truckers near Budagumpa in Koppal taluk on Thursday. One of the officials ran from the spot into nearby fields along with a handbag, believed to be containing money, when confronted by the group of media persons.
The RTO officials were caught red-handed by the media when a trucker approached their vehicle with some currency notes rolled in his palm. Media persons took the officials to task for harassing truckers and also shot videos of the government vehicle with a handbag kept in the rear seat. The officials did not have any convincing answers to the questions from the media persons.
One of the officials, who was wearing a mask, fled into nearby fields with a handbag. The media persons chased him for some distance, but the official ran through bushes and got back on to the road and fled. Another official tried to convince the media that they were only checking documents of commercial vehicles. When they could not give convincing replies, they moved away from the spot.