Srinagar, July 1 -- For years, the pool at Scholars School had been a peaceful gathering place. On weekends, former students would return to the school to swim under the summer sky, a ritual that brought them back to the classrooms and courtyards where they had once studied.

But that familiar rhythm was interrupted this year when local officials accused the school of polluting a nearby canal and soon demanded a bribe to make the trouble go away.

On June 30, the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) arrested Mohammad Shaban Chopan, a local District Development Council (DDC) member, while he was allegedly accepting an initial bribe payment linked to the dispute.

According to the ACB's statement, Chopan and his close aide, Ghulam Mohammad Khathana...