At 5.00 am on Saturday, the mayor set out of his house and went with an employee of the municipal corporation on the latter's scooter to a godown at Creek Road.

When the two reached the godown, the employee asked the godown-keeper to produce documents pertaining to the goods received in the godown. The godown-keeper refused, saying it was only an inspector from the octroi department who could demand documents. When the godown-keeper asked the corporation employee who the person accompanying him was, Rajput said that he was a clerk in the octroi department.

Due to the godown-keeper's persistent refusal to produce documents, the mayor finally revealed his identity and raided the godown and other godowns in the vicinity, exposing evasion to the tune of Rs 50 lakh, and seized more than half-a-dozen vehicles. Thegodowns have been sealed.

In an earlier incident, the employee accompanying the mayor, M G Saraf, had exposed octroi evasion by Cadbury and Vidhyut Metallics to the tune of Rs 11 lakh and Rs 10 lakh respectively.

However, despite Municipal Commissioner T Chandrashekar's announcement that those who exposed octroi evasion would be given a certain percentage of the collection, Saraf has still not received anything, though he seized more than two dozen trucks.

Meanwhile, the civic auditor has turned down the proposal to reward employees of the octroi and vigilance department for exposing octroi evasion, saying it is part of their job. But he said that employees of other departments should be rewarded.

Now the mayor stands to get the reward for exposing octroi evasion.