Bhubaneswar: Odisha Vigilance sleuths on Monday apprehended a Child Development Project Officer (CDPO) and a a clerk-cum-accountant for allegedly taking Rs one lakh bribe for appointment of an Anganwadi worker in Rayagada district.
The accused have been identified as Sushila Sabar, CDPO at Bisamcuttack and Rama Chandra Patra, clerk-cum-accountant. The two were caught by Vigilance while accepting bribe of Rs 80,000 as second and final instalment of overall demand of Rs one lakh for appointment of a woman from Dongariya Kandha who was recently selected for the post of Anganwadi worker her Gram Panchayat area.
A Vigilance statement said that the woman had applied for the post of Anganwadi worker in her village about a month ago. When she enquired about the status of the appointment in the office of CDPO on June 20, a demand of Rs one lakh bribe was made for issue of the appointment letter.
On the same day, clerk Rama Chandra Patra took Rs 20,000 as first instalment on behalf of CDPO via UPI transaction from the complainant. The complainant was further instructed to pay the rest amount of Rs 80000 by June 23 to get the appointment letter.
Faced with such huge bribe demand, the poor tribal woman reported the matter to vigilance authorities. Based on this, the Vigilance team nabbed both the accused persons at Kumbhara Dhamuni Chowk while taking the bribe money of Rs 80000 from the complainant. The entire tainted bribe money has been recovered and seized.
Following the trap, simultaneous searches have been launched on the residential house of Sabar and Patra at Tumbiguda of Rayagada town. Both the accused persons have been arrested and will be forwarded to the court. A case has been registered and further details are awaited.
Accused Patra was earlier involved in another corruption for misappropriation of government funds by using forged documents while posted as Nazir in the office of Tehsildar, Rayagada. The case is sub judice in the Court of Special Judge, Vigilance at Jeypore, the Vigilance statement added.
