TV cameraman remanded for accepting bribe
Jayampathy Jayasinghe
A video cameraman attached to a popular television station in Colombo
arrested by police for accepting a bribe of Rs 3,000 from an employee of
the Fisheries Corporation stall at Bandarawela last week was remanded
till February 11.
Police Media Spokesman SSP Ranjith Gunesekera told the Daily News the
cameraman had demanded Rs 5,000 from the Fisheries Corporation staff to
refrain from telecasting an adverse TV footage on the fisheries stall.
According to SSP Gunesekera the cameraman who had earlier taken a bribe
of Rs 2,000 from an employee of the Fisheries Corporation had gone on
February 2 to collect the balance money.
He was arrested by a police team of the Badulla police station.
The cameraman was in the possession of the Media Accreditation card
No 001301 issued by the Department of Information, police said.
Public Health Inspectors conducted a campaign at the Bandarawela town
last week on unhygienic restaurants and visited the Fisheries
Corporation stall accompanied by the cameraman assigned to cover the
event.
Fisheries Corporation officials lodged a complaint with the DIG Uva
Province who instructed police to arrest the suspect. A trap was laid
and a police decoy who acted an a employee of the Fisheries Corporation
was given marked notes to be given to the cameraman. Police arrested the
cameraman on February 2 around 2 pm while accepting the money.
The suspect will be produced in court today.
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