Baripada: Sleuths of anti-corruption Vigilance agency carried out raids at the office and other premises of the Tehsildar of Karanjia in Odisha’s Mayurbhanj district on Monday following allegation of taking Rs 12 lakh bribe from a man to release land acquisition award of over Rs 51.75 lakh in his favour.
Vigilance sources said this is the first case of bribe amounting to Rs 12 lakh through cheque. This is also the highest bribe amount in a case. Earlier, it was 10 lakh in Manasi Jena case.
Sources said teams of Vigilance officials carried out simultaneous raids on the properties of Karanjia Tehsildar Charles Nayak, OAS-A (SB) since this morning. Raids are being conducted at the following places:
1) Office room of Tehsildar at Karanjia.
2) Official residence of Tehsildar at Karanjia.
3) Residential house of Charls Nayak located in Bhadrak.
4) Another place located at Chadei Bhol, Karanjia.
The Vigilance sleuths conducted thorough search and examined different documents during the operation.
Teams of Vigilance led by one Additional SP, 7 DySPs, 3 Inspectors and other staff are conducting searches on the strength of search warrants issued by the Court of Special Judge, Vigilance, Baripada.
The complainant was awarded a compensation of Rs 51,75,810/- recently in lieu of acquisition of his land by the NHAI authorities. The Tehsildar demanded the bribe amount in the form of two blank cheques of Rs.10 lakh and Rs.2 lakh, to release the compensation cheque of the complainant. Finding no alternative, the complainant handed over 2 blank cheques to him. After handing over and presentation of cheques in the bank for withdrawal of the bribe amount, the complainant reported the matter to Vigilance for legal action, a Vigilance release said
The search operations are still continuing and details of assets accumulated by the Tehsildar will be known after the entire process is complete, the sources added.
