Bhubaneswar, 06 May (H.S.): In a significant anti-corruption operation, Odisha Vigilance on Wednesday apprehended Rakshi Meher, District Resource Person (DRP) for Bargarh district under the office of the General Manager, District Industries Centre (DIC), while allegedly accepting a bribe of ₹30,000 for facilitating the release of a subsidy under the Pradhan Mantri Formalization of Micro Food Processing Enterprises (PMFME) scheme.

According to Vigilance officials, the accused had demanded the bribe from a beneficiary in exchange for processing and releasing a 35% subsidy amounting to ₹3,02,400 against a sanctioned loan of ₹8,64,000. The loan had been disbursed on March 15, 2026, for setting up a bakery unit.

Despite repeated requests from the beneficiary to process the subsidy, Meher allegedly withheld the file and demanded ₹30,000 as illegal gratification. She reportedly instructed the beneficiary to deposit the amount directly into her bank account and even shared her account details via SMS from her mobile phone.

Unwilling to comply with the illegal demand, the beneficiary approached Odisha Vigilance and lodged a complaint detailing the harassment. Acting on the complaint, Vigilance officials laid a trap and apprehended Meher at the moment when the beneficiary deposited the bribe amount into her bank account as per her instructions.

During the operation, the accused’s mobile phone was seized, along with bank transaction confirmation messages evidencing the deposit of ₹30,000.

Following the successful trap, simultaneous searches are being conducted at three locations linked to Meher to investigate possible disproportionate assets (DA).

In this connection, Sambalpur Vigilance Police Station Case No. 05 dated May 5, 2026, has been registered under Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act, 2018. Further investigation is underway.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Monalisa Panda