Bhubaneswar: The Odisha Vigilance has seized over Rs 28 lakh in cash from an auditor of the Regional Director of Education (RDE) office in Bhubaneswar after he was allegedly caught red-handed accepting a bribe.
On Tuesday, Ambika Prasad Rath was arrested by the Odisha Vigilance team on charges of demanding and accepting a bribe of Rs 4,000 from a staff member of a degree college in Khurda district. The bribe was sought for verifying the staffer’s service records and making necessary corrections in the pay fixation statements under the Modified Assured Career Progression (MACP) scheme, as per the service book, to enable drawl of due pay.
Aggrieved by the demand, the college staffer approached the vigilance authorities. Acting on the complaint, a trap was laid and Rath was nabbed inside his office room while accepting Rs 4,000. The entire bribe money was recovered from his possession in the presence of witnesses. Both his hands tested positive for chemical reaction, confirming that he had handled the bribe money.
Following the trap, simultaneous searches were conducted at his residential building at Madhusudan Nagar in Bhubaneswar, and his office room. Vigilance officials unearthed and seized Rs 27,42,900 in cash from his residence and another Rs 1,28,000 from the drawer of his office table during the raid. Rath was arrested after he failed to satisfactorily explain the sources of the cash seized, a Vigilance release said.
A case has been registered against him at Bhubaneswar Vigilance police station under Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act, 2018, and further investigation is underway.
The release further stated that Rath joined govt service as an auditor in the RDE office on June 26, 2000 with an initial salary Rs 6,000. He has been continuing in the post for over 25 years.
