Bhubaneswar: Odisha Administrative Service (OAS) officer Siba Mallick, who was caught red-handed accepting Rs 20,000 bribe, has been arrested for allegedly possessing assets 190% more than his known sources of income.
The Odisha Vigilance informed that 4 buildings, 7 valuable plots, deposits amounting to Rs 18 lakh and Rs 1.55 lakh in cash were unearthed during subsequent raids on the officer, serving as Mahakalpada Tehsildar.
“He was arrested for possessing DA and is being forwarded today to the court,” a release by the state’s anti-graft wing said.
On September 23, Mallick was trapped while allegedly taking Rs 20,000 bribe nside his rest room at the Tehsil Office from a complainant to remove an illegal structure on government land that obstructed passage to his house. He was arrested and forwarded to court the following day.
The complainant had earlier lodged an encroachment case in 2024, following which the Revenue Inspector submitted a report in April 2024 confirming illegal occupation of government land that blocked access to the his house. Despite repeated requests to take action, Mallick, the competent authority to evict the illegal encroachment, allegedly demanded Rs 20,000 while threatening to keep the file pending for years if the bribe was not paid.
Earlier on September 12, tehsildar of Bamra in Sambalpur Aswini Kumar Panda, who topped the Odisha Civil Services Examination in 2019, was arrested for allegedly taking a bribe of Rs 15,000 to convert kisam of a land in a mutation case.
