Bhubaneswar, 12 August (H.S.): Odisha Vigilance officials on Wednesday apprehended a Revenue Inspector (RI) for allegedly demanding and accepting a bribe of Rs 5,000 from a complainant in Baleshwar district.
The accused has been identified as Sarat Kumar Sethy, Revenue Inspector of Tudigadia under Khaira Tahasil.
According to an official Vigilance release, Sethy was caught red-handed at his office while accepting Rs 5,000 from an applicant in connection with a land mutation case.
The complainant had applied for mutation of his ancestral land to obtain a Record of Rights (ROR) in the name of his grandfather. Sethy allegedly delayed the process and subsequently demanded Rs 5,000 for submitting a favourable field enquiry report and facilitating the issuance of the ROR.
After refusing to pay the bribe, the complainant approached Odisha Vigilance. Acting on the complaint, Vigilance officials laid a trap on Wednesday and caught Sethy while accepting the bribe at his office.
The entire bribe amount of Rs 5,000 was recovered from his possession and seized by the officials.
Following the trap, simultaneous searches are being conducted at two locations linked to Sethy as part of an investigation into a suspected disproportionate assets (DA) angle.
A case has been registered at the Baleshwar Vigilance Police Station under Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act, 2018. Further investigation is underway.
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Hindusthan Samachar / Monalisa Panda
