Bhubaneswar: In a major crackdown on corrupt practices by government officials, Odisha Vigilance intercepted a vehicle carrying Rs five lakh bribe money allegedly belonging to Dhaneswar Barad, Superintendent of Excise, Raurkela.
Based on reliable inputs that Barad had collected huge bribe cash from excise licensees, a team of Vigilance was keeping a watch on him.
While he was sending cash of Rs five lakh through a salesman of a local wine shop in an SUV on Friday, the Vigilance team intercepted the vehicle in front of the Excise Superintendent’s Office located at Uditnagar, Rourkela in presence of witnesses. During search, the team recovered Rs five lakh in cash.
According to a Vigilance statement, the salesman admitted that the cash was given by Excise Superintendent Barad for delivery to his residence. On confrontation, Barad also admitted the same and could not give any satisfactory explanation for the recovered cash of Rs 5,00,000. The cash has been seized.
In this connection, Raurkela Vigilance registered a case under Section 13(2) read with Section 13 (1) (b) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 2018 has been registered.
Searches have been launched at his office and residential locations from Disproportionate Assets angle. Investigation is in progress.