CHENNAI: An assistant engineer with the State Electricity Board, who was suspended nearly three years ago for allegedly seeking and accepting bribe, helped trap another employee who sought bribe from him to issue the posting order after his suspension was revoked.

Now, the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) has arrested the employee, while also continuing investigations against the engineer-turned-whistleblower in the earlier case.

According to the agency, the complainant, Balasubramanian, an Assistant Engineer with Tangedco at Besant Nagar, was trapped by its officials on September 20, 2023, while allegedly receiving a bribe of Rs 10,000 from a person.

After three years, Balasubramanian’s suspension was revoked by the Superintending Engineer, Adyar, on June 12. However, a posting order was yet to be issued by the Chief Engineer (Personnel), Tangedco Headquarters.

When Balasubramanian approached the officials concerned to speed up the process, Balaji, an assistant attached to the Disciplinary Proceedings Section of the utility, allegedly demanded a bribe of Rs 1.5 lakh from him for facilitating the posting order. Following hectic negotiations, he finally agreed to reduce the bribe amount to Rs 1.3 lakh, said the agency.

However, Balaji demanded Rs 50,000 as an advance payment to process the order. Angered by this, Balasubramanian turned to the one avenue he was quite familiar with: He approached the DVAC and lodged a complaint.

Acting on the complaint, DVAC officials organised a trap at the Tangedco headquarters on Monday (June 22). As expected, Balaji allegedly demanded and received the money, secretly laced with chemicals, from Balasubramanian outside the office premises, and was caught red-handed and arrested.

Further investigation is under way.