Bhubaneswar: The Odisha Vigilance on Wednesday apprehended Umakanta Mahakur, Assistant CT & GST Officer, Titlagarh, district Bolangir, while he was allegedly demanding and accepting a bribe of ₹12,000 from a businessman to waive off penalty and interest imposed for non-payment of professional tax.
According to a press note issued by the Vigilance, the complainant had not paid professional tax amounting to ₹7,500 for three financial years at the rate of ₹2,500 per year. Consequently, a notice was served to him by Mahakur, directing payment of ₹23,600, which included the tax amount along with fine and interest.
When the complainant approached Mahakur and requested him to accept only the due tax amount, the officer allegedly refused and instead demanded a bribe of ₹12,000 to waive off the fine and interest component. Unwilling to pay the bribe, the businessman reported the matter to the Vigilance authorities.
Acting swiftly on the complaint, a Vigilance team laid a trap and caught Mahakur red-handed while accepting the bribe money. The entire tainted cash has been recovered and seized from his possession.
Following the successful trap, simultaneous searches are being conducted at locations linked to Mahakur to investigate disproportionate assets (DA).
In this connection, the Sambalpur Vigilance Police Station has registered a case (No. 21/2025) under Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act, 2018. The investigation is currently underway.
