Bhubaneswar: Odisha Vigilance on Monday arrested Junior Engineer (JE) of Kashipur block in Rayagada district Purna Chandra Choudhry on bribery charges.
According to an official press release, earlier on Saturday, Choudhry was trapped by Odisha Vigilance officials for demanding and accepting a bribe of Rs 25,000 from a Gaon Sathi (complainant) in order to take measurement of the work executed and for facilitating release of labour payment under MGNREG scheme.
The entire bribe money was recovered from the possession of Choudhry and seized in presence of witnesses.
Following the trap on Saturday, Choudhry complained of high blood pressure and illness, and was admitted at DHH, Rayagada. Following his discharge from the hospital on Monday, he has been placed under arrest and is being forwarded to the Court.
Soon after the trap, simultaneous searches were carried out at the residential house of Choudhry at Rayagada, Tikiri and his office room.
During search, residential building at Tikiri worth Rs 70 lakh, two plots (one at Rayagada and one at Tikiri), and suspected ill-gotten cash of Rs 15,05,900 was seized from his residential house at Rayagada. These unearthed assets are linked to Choudhry and his family members.
Odisha Vigilance on Friday last registered a case against Choudhry at Koraput Vigilance police station in this connection under section 7 of Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act, 2018 and is under investigation.
Further, another enquiry has been launched against him for possession of Disproportionate Assets (DA), the assessment of which is under progress, the release added.
