Bhawanipatna: The Odisha Vigilance sleuths on Monday apprehended Priyanka Jena, MGNREGA Assistant at the office of the Project Director, Watershed, Bhawanipatna in Kalahandi district, while she was allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 35,000.
According to the Vigilance sources, Jena demanded the illegal gratification from a beneficiary in exchange for facilitating the release of payments under the MGNREGA scheme. The beneficiary had already received Rs 2.68 lakh for the execution of farm ponds, with additional bills still pending. Despite the funds having been sanctioned, Jena reportedly demanded Rs 35,000 and allegedly threatened the beneficiary that she would not clear the pending bills unless the bribe was paid.
The complainant alleged that repeated approaches to Jena went unheeded, forcing him to approach the Vigilance authorities with a complaint of harassment. Acting on the tip-off, a Vigilance team laid a trap and caught Jena red-handed while she was accepting the bribe money this afternoon. The entire tainted amount of Rs 35,000 was recovered and seized from her possession.
Following the trap, simultaneous searches are underway at two locations linked to the accused to probe her disproportionate assets.
A case has been registered at Koraput Vigilance police station under Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act, 2018 and further investigation is underway.
