BUNGED UP!

A CORRUPT councillor has become the 250TH crook jailed thanks to News of the World journalist Mazher Mahmood.

Our unflinching Investigations Editor snared lowlife villain Suresh Kumar when he demanded a £10,000 bung to pass a planning application.

The 44-year-old Tory was found guilty of corruption and caged for 12 months - plus banned from holding any public office for five years - on Monday.

Passing sentence, the judge at Southwark Crown Court, South London, said: "He was consumed by his own ambition."

Also jailed was court interpreter Baldev Sidhu, 62, who caused Kumar's first trial to collapse when he made a FALSE translation of the crook's Punjabi conversations on our secret tapes.

Sidhu - the dad of BBC Breakfast presenter Sonia Deol - was sentenced to eight months in jail.

Last night a police spokesman said: "We are extremely grateful to the News of the World for bringing this matter to light and providing us with essential evidence.

"Kumar was involved in serious corruption and would not have not been brought to justice if it were not for your work."

To trap him, our man Mazher - who has famously posed as a fake sheikh to dupe many of his targets - pretended to be a business partner of two property developers facing illegal bribe demands.

Power

Kumar, a member of Redbridge Council, Essex, repeated his demands for money to Mazher in a meeting, and crowed: "Brother, the power is in my hands.

"The council is my own, the people are mine."

His and Sidhu's jailings were the latest victories for Mazher, who has caught hundreds of criminals in the last 18 years - from immigrant racketeers and drug dealers to bent cops and corrupt solicitors.

His extraordinary haul is almost enough to fill Dorchester prison, Dorset, which has a capacity of 252.

Mazher said: "It has been very rewarding to bring so many crooks to justice - and I am determined to catch even more."

The businessmen who were told by Kumar to pay up if they wanted their block of flats to get the go-ahead, expressed their gratitude.

Jasbir Bhogal and Raj- winder Rana said: "Kumar made blatant and repeated demands for cash followed by threats.

"We knew the News of the World would be the right place to go to expose this man, to shame him and get us justice."

Top 10 scalps

• LONDON'S Burning star John Alford was exposed as a drug pusher. Jailed in 1999.
• House of Commons doctor James Muir, whose patients included Jack Straw and William Hague, was nabbed handing out false medical reports, selling methadone and offering illegal abortions in 2000.
• Shamed radio DJ Johnny Walker was caught supplying cocaine the same year.
• Gary Pennant, dad of footballer Jermaine, got four years after Maz infiltrated the drugs den where he was selling crack in 2008. READ STORY AND WATCH VIDEO
• Russian mafia boss Antonov Russo, got four years in 2002 for a bogus marriage scam.
• Dr Manohar Rangwani was jailed for seven years in 1998 after recruiting Maz as a hitman to murder his mistress.
• Islamic extremist Mohammed Kuttubuddin was jailed in 2008 for selling fake passports.
• Vile mum Fleur Brown was snared trying to sell her 13-year-old daughter's virginity for £30,000 in 2004.
• Nigerian priest Adeola Magbagebeola performed fake marriages in North London in 2004.
• Ex-cop Derek Cheney was jailed for cocaine smuggling in 2002.

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