Odisha Vigilance Nabs 2 Accountants At CSO Office Accepting Rs 50K Bribe

Rajnarayan Sahoo (left) and Jiten Patnaik, junior accountants in the office of Civil Supplies Officer, Angul.

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha Vigilance sleuths on Monday apprehended Rajnarayan Sahoo and Jiten Patnaik, junior accountants in the office of Civil Supplies Officer (CSO), Angul, while allegedly accepting Rs 50,000 bribe.

The duo had demanded illegal gratification from the manager of a rice mill for disbursing Rs 60 lakh for fortified rice kernels (FRK). “The manager had been requesting them for a month to release the pending amount. However, they refused to release the FRK amount unless the mill owner paid the demanded bribe. Left with no option, the manager reported the matter to Vigilance authorities, alleging harassment by the accountants,” a Vigilance release said.

Accordingly a trap was laid and the duo nabbed while accepting the bribe money, which was then recovered and seized from them.

Simultaneous searches are on at two places linked to Sahoo and Pattanaik to ascertain whether they have accumulated assets disproportionate to their known sources of income.

A case has been registered under Section7 of PC (Amendment) Act, 2018 and further investigation is underway, it added.