Odisha: Two govt officials arrested in separate bribery cases

Bhubaneswar, Aug 18 (IANS) The Odisha Vigilance on Tuesday arrested a woman Child Development Project Officer (CDPO) in Baleshwar district for allegedly accepting a bribe from a vehicle owner to facilitate the release of bills towards the hire charges of his vehicle used for official purposes.

The accused was identified as Madhusmita Mohanty, CDPO, Sadar, Baleshwar, and In-charge CDPO, Baleshwar Municipality.

Vigilance stated that Mohanty had recently been given additional charge of CDPO, Baleshwar Municipality, following the superannuation of the officer there.

“The owner of the vehicle engaged his vehicle on a rental basis in the office of the CDPO, Baleshwar Municipality, since 2024. When the vehicle owner recently submitted pending bills for two months (June & July 2026) for payment of Rs 26,000 per month, Mohanty demanded a bribe of Rs 5,000 to pass the bills for necessary drawal. Being aggrieved, the vehicle owner approached the Vigilance authorities,” the statement said.

Based on the complaint, the Vigilance team laid a trap on Tuesday. It caught Mohanty red-handed while demanding and taking the bribe inside the Collectorate office premises in Baleshwar district.

The team recovered and seized the entire bribe money from her possession in the presence of witnesses. Following the trap, the team launched simultaneous searches at her residential double-storied building in Gopalgaon, Balasore, and her office room.

A case (16/26) has been registered at the Baleshwar Vigilance Police Station under Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act, 2018.

Separately, Vigilance sleuths also arrested Suraj Bala, Revenue Inspector (RI), Jharapali Circle under Malkangiri Tahasil in Malkangiri district, for taking a bribe of Rs 8,000 from an applicant to submit a verification report for issuance of a Scheduled Caste Certificate in favour of his spouse.

The applicant had applied online as per rules prescribed by the Revenue & Disaster Management Department and deposited the requisite fee. However, Bala allegedly delayed the process and demanded a bribe of Rs 10,000. Acting on the complaint, Vigilance laid a trap and caught him red-handed while accepting the bribe.

Earlier, Bala was also involved in another trap case registered at Koraput Vigilance Police Station (Case 33/2023) for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 15,000 from a complainant to issue a notice in an encroachment case; the matter is presently sub judice.

–IANS

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