Bhubaneswar: The Odisha Vigilance Department on Wednesday apprehended an Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) and a Home Guard driver of Mancheswar police station here on bribery charges.
The accused have been identified as ASI Rajesh Kullu and Jyoti Ranjan Behera, a Home Guard driver.
According to the Vigilance sources, the ASI had allegedly demanded
illegal gratification to return seized mobile phones and extend help in a criminal case. Kallu had earlier taken Rs 30,000 from a complainant on June 12 and returned one mobile phone. On Wednesday, when the complainant approached Kullu for the second phone, the ASI allegedly demanded an additional Rs 20,000 and instructed the complainant to hand over the money to Behera.
The complainant, suspecting foul play, reported the matter to the Vigilance authorities.
Acting on the tip-off, a Vigilance team laid a trap and caught both accused red-handed while they were accepting the Rs 20,000 bribe. The tainted bribe money was recovered and seized from the accused.
Following the trap, Vigilance officials launched simultaneous searches at two locations linked to ASI Kullu to probe his assets from the disproportionate assets (DA) angle.
A case has been registered against the ASI under Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act, 2018, and further investigation is underway.