Bhubaneswar: Odisha Vigilance sleuths on Wednesday apprehended two officials of the State Government for allegedly taking bribes.
While Assistant Civil Supplies Officer (ACSO) of Champua block in Keonjhar district, Dhumaram Murmu, was nabbed for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 15,000, Junior Engineer of National Health Mission (NHM) at the office of CDM&PHO in Sundargarh, Sumanta Naik was arrested for reportedly taking a bribe of Rs 5,000 from a contractor.
Murmu was caught red-handed at his office while allegedly demanding and accepting the bribe from the In-charge of a Local Area Multi-Purpose Cooperative Society (LAMPCS). The bribe was allegedly sought in connection with paddy procurement under the current Kharif Marketing Season (KMS).The Vigilance team seized the entire bribe amount of Rs 15,000 from his possession, an official statement said.
Following the trap, simultaneous raids have been conducted at his residential and other locations linked to Murmu to gather further evidence.
According to a Vigilance statement, Naik had demanded the bribe to process an application for the return of the Initial Security Deposit (ISD) related to the repair and renovation of a PHC building and staff quarters. Despite the completion of the work, he refused to release the deposit without payment. The contractor reported the matter to Vigilance authorities, leading to a trap operation.
A Vigilance team apprehended Naik inside his office while accepting the bribe. Officials recovered the tainted money from his possession and seized it. Following the trap, simultaneous searches began at three locations linked to Naik to investigate disproportionate assets.
Cases have been registered against both the officials under Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act-2018. Further investigations are on.