Ahmedabad: A tip-off, a decoy and marked currency changing hands. For years, that was the Anti-Corruption Bureau’s tried-and-tested formula for trapping bribe-taking officials. But as corruption shifts from cash-filled envelopes to digital gateways including crypto corridors, ACB is upgrading its playbook. The bureau will now be tracking money trails, verifying demands for bribes and preserving crucial evidence armed with cutting-edge technology. Senior officers said ACB is acquiring specialised software and other technological tools to stamp out corruption, adding that increasing use of digital payment channels has made financial analysis an important component of investigations. ACB’s focus is now moving from merely recovering tainted money to documenting the entire transaction trail and preserving evidence that can withstand scrutiny in court, they added.In conventional ACB traps, currency notes to be used in the operation are treated with microscopic phenolphthalein powder. This powder transfers to the hands of the suspect. ACB teams swooping in after the money changes hands then make the suspect undergo the sodium carbonate wash. The powder on the hands turns pink on reacting with the solution. This is the reason why such arrests are called “caught-red-handed”.“With changing times, some corrupt officials have started using crypto currency and lesser-known payment methods, making it more difficult to establish the crime through conventional traps,” a senior ACB officer said.The method of accepting bribes has especially changed in cases involving senior officials who avoid taking the cash directly. “Earlier, catching an accused red-handed was crucial. Now, particularly with higher-ranking officials, money can move digitally without the official physically handling cash. We need newer technological methods to establish such offences,” the officer said.Body-worn cameras and digital documentation are among the measures being used to strengthen the evidentiary chain during investigations. The shift is not aimed at replacing trap cases, officers clarified, but at supplementing conventional investigations when a physical trap is difficult or unsuitable.“ACB will acquire and adopt newer technological tools, which can help investigators establish the offence and also strengthen cases during trial,” the senior officer said.
