Bhubaneswar: Vigilance sleuths on Tuesday arrested tehsildar in Mayurbhanj district’s Karanjia Charles Nayak for allegedly receiving a bribe of Rs 12 lakh through two cheques from a person.
Nayak allegedly demanded a bribe from the complainant to release rupees 51.75 lakh compensation for a land, which National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) took possession of. He demanded two cheques of Rs 10 lakh and Rs 2 lakh, to issue the compensation.
The victim handed over the cheques to Nayak and then informed the anti-corruption agency about the matter.
Following the trap, searches are being carried out at Nayak’s office chamber and government quarter in Karanjia and at his house near district headquarters hospital in Bhadrak.
This is the first case of a government official receiving a bribe through cheques and also the highest-ever seizure related to bribery case in Odisha.
In May last year, Sambalpur Vigilance division inspector Manasi Jena was arrested for accepting Rs 10 lakh bribe from a government official to not book him in a fake corruption case.
Monday also saw Tarun Ranjan Nayak, working as OAG-III, O/O GRF, TPCODL at Nayapalli in the capital city here and his associate Sailaja Muduli being caught while allegedly accepting Rs10,000 as bribe from a person through PhonePe (Digital mode) for processing the grievance application for electricity connection to latter’s residence.
“Two cases of bribe taking through PhonePe and one where bribe taken through unnamed cheque have been detected yesterday. In all these cases, private persons helping government servants by taking bribe money in their PhonePe/Bank accounts have also been arrested/ prosecuted,” a vigilance release said, warning of strong action against bribe takers and their facilitators.
“Remember, you aren’t safe when taking bribe through PhonePe. We will follow the digital footprints and come after you,” the release added.
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