Bhubaneswar: Odisha Vigilance on Monday arrested two revenue officials of Puri district for allegedly demanding and accepting a bribe of Rs 35,000 in connection with a mutation case involving the conversion of agricultural land into homestead land.
The arrested officials have been identified as Kalyani Jena, Revenue Inspector (RI), and Purna Chandra Behera, Assistant Revenue Inspector (ARI), both posted at the Siula RI Circle under Pipili Tahasil in Puri district.
According to an official press release, Jena and Behera were apprehended by Odisha Vigilance while allegedly demanding and accepting Rs 35,000 from an applicant for processing and forwarding an enquiry report in a mutation case related to the conversion of agricultural land into homestead land.
The applicant had applied, as per the rules of the Revenue and Disaster Management (R&DM) Department, for conversion of his agricultural land into homestead land. When he enquired about the status of his application at the RI office, the accused officials allegedly demanded Rs 35,000 to initiate the mutation proceedings for the land conversion.
Despite repeated requests from the applicant, the duo allegedly insisted on payment of the demanded bribe. Following the alleged harassment, the complainant approached Odisha Vigilance authorities and reported the matter.
Based on the complaint, a team of Odisha Vigilance laid a trap on Monday and apprehended Jena and Behera while they were allegedly accepting Rs 35,000 from the complainant. The entire tainted bribe amount was recovered from the accused officials and seized.
Following the trap, simultaneous searches are being conducted at their office and residential premises at Bramhakumdi (Charichhak), Achyutapur (Chandanpur) and Rasulgarh in Bhubaneswar as part of an investigation into their disproportionate assets (DA).
In this connection, Bhubaneswar Vigilance Police Station Case No. 20, dated September 5, 2026, has been registered under Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act, 2018.
The investigation into the case is underway against the accused officials.
A detailed report is awaited.
