Bhubaneswar: Vigilance sleuths arrested Assistant Engineer (AE) of Rural Works (PH) Division, Bhubaneswar for accepting a bribe of Rs 1 lakh from a contractor.
The contractor had been requesting AE Naresh Kumar Das to clear his pending bills of approximately Rs 7 lakhs, but Das refused to do so unless he was paid the bribe amount.
The contractor left with no option, reported the matter to the Vigilance authorities, who subsequently laid a trap and caught Das red-handed while accepting the bribe. The entire bribe money was recovered and seized, and a further search of Das’s possessions yielded an additional Rs 1.26 lakh in suspected ill-gotten cash, bringing the total seized amount to Rs 2.26 lakh.
A case has been registered against Das under Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act, 2018, and an investigation is currently underway. House searches have also been launched in connection with the case.
