Bhubaneswar, 08 June (H.S.) : Odisha Vigilance on Monday apprehended Ms. Priyanka Jena, MGNREGA Assistant in the Office of the Project Director (PD), Watershed, Bhawanipatna in Kalahandi district, while allegedly accepting a bribe of ₹35,000 from a beneficiary under the MGNREGS scheme.

According to Vigilance officials, the beneficiary had executed farm pond works under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) and was entitled to receive bill payments amounting to ₹2.68 lakh. Despite the release of a portion of the bill amount, Ms. Jena allegedly demanded ₹35,000 as illegal gratification for facilitating the clearance of the already released payment and processing the pending bill amount.

Sources said the accused had allegedly threatened the beneficiary that the remaining dues would not be released unless the demanded bribe was paid. After repeated requests reportedly went unanswered, the beneficiary approached Odisha Vigilance and lodged a complaint alleging harassment and corruption.

Acting on the complaint, a Vigilance team laid a trap and caught Ms. Jena red-handed while she was accepting the bribe amount. The entire tainted money of ₹35,000 was recovered and seized from her possession.

Following the trap, Vigilance officials launched simultaneous searches at two locations linked to the accused to investigate possible disproportionate assets (DA).

In this connection, Koraput Vigilance Police Station Case No. 09/2026 has been registered under Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act, 2018. Further investigation is underway.

Hindusthan Samachar / Monalisa Panda