Thane: A village revenue officer was caught by the ACB when he was allegedly returning a part of the bribe amount to a complainant in Raigad district.

Gopinath Bopi, the ‘talathi' of Wadav village in Raigad's Pen taluka, had in May this year allegedly demanded Rs 15,000 for himself, Rs 25,000 for Pen's mandal officer and Rs one lakh for a tehsildar from the complainant for updating records of a land purchased by the latter's wife and relatives, Anti-Corruption Bureau's Thane Range DSP Datta Karale said.

Later, Bopi had accepted his share of the bribe, he said.

The complainant had informed about the offence to the ACB sleuths, who made enquiries with the talathi about it.  After Bopi was transferred out of Pen, he returned Rs 8,000 to the complainant.

Yesterday, when he was returning another Rs 5,000 through a local talathi to the complainant, the ACB caught him.

Offences under various sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act have been registered against him, the ACB said, adding that further probe was on.