Bhubaneswar, June 20: The Odisha Vigilance Department arrested a junior engineer from the General Electrical Division (GED) in Jagatsinghpur district on Friday. He was accused of accepting a bribe in exchange for preparing an estimate for street light installation in a local gram panchayat.
According to Vigilance sources, on May 8, junior engineer Soma Das was tasked with preparing the estimate after receiving a work order from the gram panchayat authority. Despite repeated requests from the executive, Das delayed the estimate without any valid reason. Subsequently, he demanded 1% of the total project estimate of ₹15 lakh, amounting to ₹15,000, as a bribe.
With no other option, the executive contacted the Vigilance Department to report the harassment and sought action against Das. A senior vigilance officer stated that a trap was laid on June 19, leading to Das being caught red-handed in his office while demanding and accepting the bribe of ₹15,000 from the executive officer. The entire amount was seized in the presence of witnesses.
Following the sting operation, simultaneous searches were conducted at Das’s rented accommodation in Cuttack and his office in Jagatsinghpur. He has been arrested and will be presented in court on Saturday.
In a separate case, the Vigilance team also conducted a search on Friday related to properties owned by Assistant Executive Engineer (AEE) Satyanarayan Sethi in the Kotpad block of Koraput district. They uncovered movable and immovable assets worth millions, with allegations of Sethi holding assets beyond known sources of income.
The seized properties included two flats (one being a benami flat), two farmhouses spanning 14 acres, 49 valuable plots of land (17 being benami), approximately 940 grams of gold, around 2.5 kilograms of silver, ₹5.48 lakh in cash, over ₹60.92 lakh in deposits, a benami four-wheeler, and other assets.
–
Leave a Comment