Kendrapada: The Odisha Vigilance sleuths on Monday apprehended headmaster of a high school at Chadeiguan near Mahakalpada in Kendrapada district, while he was allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 5,000 from a staff member.
The accused has been identified as Raghunath Das.
According to a Vigilance release, the staffer, who joined the school in August 2025, had not received his salary since his appointment. He had repeatedly requested Das to forward his attendance sheet to the Drawing and Disbursing Officer (DDO) at the District Education Officer’s office in Kendrapada so that his arrear salary could be processed and released. Instead of helping the employee, the headmaster allegedly demanded Rs 5,000 as a bribe to facilitate the drawl of the pending salary. Irked by the demand, the staffer approached the Vigilance authorities and lodged a complaint.
Acting on the tip-off, a Vigilance team laid a trap and apprehended Das while he was accepting the bribe amount. The entire sum of Rs 5,000 was recovered from him and seized as evidence. Simultaneous searches are currently underway at two locations linked to the accused to probe his assets from the disproportionate assets (DA) angle.
A case has been registered at Cuttack Vigilance police station under Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act, 2018, and further investigation is underway.
