Bhubaneswar: Odisha Vigilance sleuths on Thursday apprehended a programmer in the office of the district education officer (DEO) in Jagatsinghpur for allegedly taking a bribe of Rs 30,000 for clearing pending bills.
The accused, identified as Chandrajit Parija, is a programmer in the office of the DEO/DPC (District Project Coordinator), Samagra Sikhya Abhiyan (SSA) in Jagatsinghpur.
Vigilance said Parija was apprehended while demanding and taking a bribe of Rs 30,000 from an executant for clearing his pending bills towards installation of digital black boards assigned to him in schools of Jagatsinghpur district.
The accused, as a member of the procurement and technical committee, inspects the installation works, and on his certification, the bill is released in favour of the executant.
Despite several requests by the executant, Parija was not taking steps to inspect work done by the complainant. Instead, he demanded Rs 30,000 from the complainant for clearing pending bills. Irked over this, the complainant reported the matter to vigilance authorities alleging harassment by Parija.
Following this, a team of Vigilance nabbed Parija while taking bribe money of Rs 30,000 from the complainant. The entire tainted bribe money has been recovered from exclusive possession of Sri Parija and seized.
Following the trap, simultaneous searches are going on at three locations linked to Parija from Disproportionate Assets (DA) angle. A case has been registered and investigation is underway.