Bhubaneswar: The Odisha Vigilance sleuths on Tuesday apprehended a junior engineer (JE) from Tata Power Southern Odisha Distribution Limited (TPSODL) and his associate while allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 20,000.
The accused have been identified as Pradesh Prasad Nayak, junior engineer at TPSODL in Malkangiri district, and his associate Bhanjakishor Swain.
According to a Vigilance release, Nayak had demanded the bribe to facilitate and provide an electricity connection to a brick factory. They were caught red-handed while receiving the bribe amount from the owner of a brick manufacturing unit, near the main gate of the TPSODL office in Malkangiri. The entire tainted bribe money, amounting to Rs 20,000, was recovered and seized from their possession.
Simultaneous searches are currently underway at two locations linked to the junior engineer to ascertain if the accused possesses wealth beyond his known sources of income.
A case has been registered at Koraput Vigilance police station under Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act, 2018 against both accused persons and further investigation is underway, it added.
