Bhubaneswar: Odisha Vigilance sleuths on Tuesday arrested Charles Nayak, Karanjia Tahasildar in Odisha’s Mayurbhanj district for demanding and accepting a Rs 12 lakh bribe from a complainant through two blank cheques.
According to the Vigilance department, a case (No 5/2023) was registered against the accused at the Vigilance Cell police station under Section 7/12 Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act, 2018, as prima facie evidence is well established against Charles.
The accused will be forwarded to the Court of Special Judge, Vigilance, Baripada, Mayurbhanj, today.
It is worth mentioning here that this is the first time that someone has demanded and received a bribe through blank cheques. Besides it is also the highest amount of bribe demanded by any Odisha official. Earlier, Manasi Jena had demanded Rs 10 lakh bribe.
According to the Odisha Vigilance Department, the complainant was recently awarded a compensation of Rs 51,75,810 in lieu of the acquisition of his land by the NHAI authorities. The Tahsildar demanded the bribe amount in the form of two blank cheques of Rs 10 lakh and Rs 2 lakh to release the compensation cheque to the complainant. Finding no alternative, the complainant handed over two blank cheques to the Tahasildar.
After handing over and presentation of the cheques to the bank for withdrawal of the bribe amount, the complainant reported the matter to the Odisha Vigilance Department for legal action.
