Bhubaneswar: In a swift crackdown, Odisha Vigilance on Tuesday apprehended Siba Mallick, Tahsildar of Mahakalpada in Kendrapara district, for allegedly demanding and accepting a bribe of ₹20,000 from a complainant.
According to officials, the complainant had lodged an encroachment case in 2024 after miscreants forcibly occupied government land, blocking the common passage leading to his house. A Revenue Inspector had submitted a report in April 2024 confirming the encroachment. Despite repeated requests for eviction of the illegal structure, Mallick allegedly demanded a bribe of ₹20,000 to process the file, warning that it would otherwise be kept pending for years.
Acting on the complaint, Vigilance sleuths set up a trap and caught Mallick red-handed in his rest room inside the Tahasil office while accepting the bribe money. The entire amount was recovered and seized from his possession.
Following the trap, simultaneous searches are being carried out at six locations linked to Mallick to detect disproportionate assets. A case has been registered at Cuttack Vigilance Police Station under Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act, 2018. Investigation is underway.
