Beed: The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) has arrested an education officer and a teacher for allegedly demanding a Rs 40,000 bribe to submit a favourable report in connection with an inquiry against a school headmaster in Maharashtra's Beed district, officials said.

The complainant, a 57-year-old headmaster of an upper primary school in Kaij tehsil, received a notice from the Block Education Officer in August over alleged irregularities in online billing through the Shalarth salary payroll system. An education extension officer was appointed to investigate the allegations, the ACB said.

When the headmaster approached the 57-year-old education extension officer on October 9, the official allegedly demanded a bribe of Rs 40,000 in exchange for submitting a favourable inquiry report, the anti-graft agency said.

Unwilling to pay the bribe, the headmaster lodged a complaint with the Jalna unit of the ACB on Wednesday.

Acting on the complaint, the ACB laid a trap at the Kaij Block Education Office and allegedly caught a 50-year-old Zilla Parishad school assistant teacher red-handed while accepting the first instalment of Rs 20,000 from the headmaster on the instructions of the education extension officer.

Both accused were arrested, the ACB said.

This report was published from a wire feed. Apart from the headline, the EdexLive Desk has not edited the copy.