An engineer of Nepal Electricity Authority, Kalaiya, branch was caught red-handed with bribe money on Wednesday.

The Commission for the investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) caught engineer Ratnesh Kumar Chaudhary with Rs 9, 500 kickback taken from a service seeker from his office today.

Chaudhary claimed the money seized from the drawer of his desk was given by the service seeker to pay tax.

“A service seeker had given me the money to pay tax saying that he had to look after a sick person in his house,” he said, adding, “The money was not given as a kickback.”

Soon after the so-called service seeker left the office, a team of CIAA told Chaudhay to open his drawer only to find the money.