Bhubaneshwar, May 17 (UNI) Odisha Vigilance on Sunday arrested a junior engineer of the Rural Works (RW) Section in Nayagarh district and his associate while allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 1.36 lakh from a contractor for clearing pending bills and facilitating refund of security deposits, officials said.
The accused were identified as Keshab Subudhi, Junior Engineer of Bhapur RW Section, and Ashutosh Baliarsingh, a private individual allegedly working in association with him.
According to Vigilance officials, the contractor had executed construction and maintenance work under the Mukhya Mantri Sadak Yojana (MMSY) during 2021-22 in the Khandapara area and had been seeking release of his pending dues and security deposits after completion of the maintenance period.
Officials said the contractor had repeatedly approached the junior engineer over the past three to four months for taking measurements of the completed maintenance work, a mandatory process for release of the Initial Security Deposit (ISD) and other security money.
The Vigilance department alleged that Subudhi demanded Rs 1.36 lakh from the contractor for processing the measurements and facilitating refund of the deposits.
After receiving a complaint from the contractor, Vigilance officials laid a trap on Sunday. Subudhi allegedly called the contractor to his official quarters at Khandapara and asked him to hand over the bribe amount to Baliarsingh.
The Vigilance team apprehended both the accused while they were allegedly accepting the bribe money, officials said, adding that the entire tainted cash of Rs 1.36 lakh was recovered and seized.
Simultaneous searches are being conducted at two locations linked to the junior engineer to probe possible disproportionate assets.
A case has been registered at Bhubaneswar Vigilance Police Station under Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act, 2018, and further investigation is in progress, officials added.
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