Bhubaneswar: The Odisha Vigilance sleuths on Friday seized Rs 4.73 lakh during searches at the residence of OAS officer Aswini Panda, who is currently serving as Bamra Tehsildar in Sambalpur district, in Bhubaneswar following bribery charges.
Panda, who topped the Odisha Civil Services exam in 2019, was arrested earlier in the day after his office driver was caught red-handed while accepting a Rs 15,000 bribe on his behalf. The bribe was allegedly demanded for converting agricultural land into homestead land in a mutation case.
A native of Khetrapal village in Jajpur’s Dharmasala block, he had cleared the exam in his first attempt without any coaching. He did his schooling from Jana Kalyan High School near his native place and Plus II in Science from Ravenshaw University in Cuttack. He then pursued BTech in Mechanical Engineering from a private college in Berhampur and worked in a private company for three years in Delhi before returning home in 2018 to prepare for competitive exams.
The incident has raised serious concerns about corruption in key revenue offices, particularly when senior officers with a merit background are found indulging in such malpractice.
Panda entered into government service as Training Reserve Officer on December 30, 2021, in the office of Balasore Collector. He was then posted at Shamakhunta in Mayurbhanj as Tehsildar on June 1, 2023, and transferred to Bamra on July 1, 2025.
