Bhubaneswar: Chief District Agriculture Officer of Brahmapur was apprehended by Odisha Vigilance on Tuesday while demanding and accepting a bribe of Rs 15,000 from a beneficiary.
According to Vigilance, the accused, Byomkesh Mishra, had demanded the money to process a file under the Integrated Farming Systems component of the Mukhya Mantri Krushi Udyog Yojana (MKUY) and to facilitate release of the subsidy amount in favour of the beneficiary. Under the scheme guidelines, a beneficiary is entitled to 50 percent subsidy on the amount invested in farming and related infrastructure.
The complainant alleged that he had been requesting Sri Mishra for the last two months to process his file. Despite repeated requests, the file was not processed. Instead, the CDAO allegedly demanded Rs 15,000 at present for clearing the file and also asked for a fixed percentage at the time of release of the subsidy amount.
Aggrieved by the demand, the beneficiary approached the Vigilance authorities alleging harassment. Acting on the complaint, a team of Odisha Vigilance laid a trap today and caught Sri Mishra red-handed while accepting Rs 15,000 from the complainant. The entire tainted bribe money was recovered from his possession and seized.
Following the trap, simultaneous searches are being conducted at three locations linked to Sri Mishra from a disproportionate assets angle. In this connection, Brahmapur Vigilance PS registered a case under Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act, 2018. Investigation is underway against the accused CDAO.
