Prinicipal & PET Of Residential School In Odisha Suspended For Demanding Bribe For Cook Job

Rourkela: Principal of Ekalavya Model Residential School at Bhawanipur in Sundargarh district has been suspended for allegedly demanding and accepting bribe.

The principal has been identified as Bijay Badaik. Physical Education Teacher (PET) of the school Amar Anant Patnaik has also been placed under suspension in this connection.

According to sources, the PET had demanded Namita Majhi to pay Rs 60,000 for the job of a cook at the school in November last year.

Namita’s father earlier worked as a cook in the same school and after his death due to cancer, the school management decided to handover the job her.

The matter got complicated when the principal left for Bhubaneswar on some official work and handed over the charge to the PET. It was during this period that Patnaik demanded the bribe from her husband to complete the necessary formalities for her appointment.

Namita’s family alleged that they had paid Rs 51,000 to the PET by selling gold ornaments.

Audio-clip of a purported telephonic conversation between Namita’s husband and the PET also went viral on social media.

Patnaik had initially refuted the allegations. The principal too had pleaded ignorance as the incident had taken place in his absence. “I have got a written complaint from the woman and will conduct a school-level inquiry and report the matter to higher authorities,” he had said,