Bhubaneswar: Odisha Vigilance sleuths on Wednesday apprehended an Assistant CT&GST officer posted at Titlagarh in Balangir district for allegedly taking Rs 12,000 bribe from a businessman.
The accused, identified as Umakanta Mahakur, was nabbed while demanding and taking bribe money of Rs 12,000 from a businessman to waive off penalty imposed on him for non-payment of professional tax for three financial years.
The complainant had not paid the professional tax amounting to Rs 7,500 for three financial years @ Rs.2500 per year. For non-payment of tax, he was served with a notice by the accused official to pay Rs 23,600 including tax amount along with fine and interest.
On receiving the notice, the complainant met the accused officer and requested him to accept the tax amount only. However, Mahakur refused to accept only tax amount, and demanded bribe of Rs 12,000 to waive off fine and interest imposed on him, prompted the complainant to report the matter to Vigilance authorities.
Following this, a team of Vigilance nabbed Mahakur while taking the bribe money of Rs 12,000 from the complainant. The entire tainted bribe money has been recovered from the possession of accused Mahakur and seized.
Following the successful trap, simultaneous searches are going on at locations associated with Mahakur from Disproportionate Assets angle. A case has been registered and investigation is in progress.