Bhubaneswar: Odisha Vigilance on Thursday apprehended a Revenue Inspector (RI) red-handed while taking a bribe of ₹6,000 inside his office premises in Angul district. The accused officer has been identified as Surendra Kumar Dash, Revenue Inspector of Tusar RI Circle under Athamallik Tahasil.
According to Vigilance sources, Dash had allegedly demanded a bribe of ₹10,000 from a land owner for initiating and passing orders for the demarcation of his land plots. The land owner had applied for demarcation on November 24, 2025.
On January 5, 2026, when the applicant met Dash to enquire about the status of his application, the RI allegedly demanded the bribe and collected ₹2,000 as the first instalment on the same day, asking the complainant to pay the remaining ₹8,000 on January 8.
When the land owner expressed his inability to pay the remaining amount, Dash allegedly reduced the balance bribe to ₹6,000 after negotiation. Distressed by the demand and harassment, the land owner approached the Odisha Vigilance authorities and lodged a complaint.
Acting on the complaint, Vigilance officials laid a trap and apprehended Dash on Thursday while he was accepting the second and final instalment of ₹6,000 inside the RI office campus at Kiakata. On spotting the Vigilance team, the accused reportedly attempted to dispose of the bribe money by throwing it out of the window of a restroom within the office premises.
However, the entire tainted amount of ₹6,000 was recovered and seized from his possession in the presence of witnesses.
Following the trap, simultaneous searches are being conducted at three locations associated with Dash to investigate possible possession of disproportionate assets.
In this connection, Cuttack Vigilance Police Station Case No. 01 dated 08.01.2026 has been registered against Surendra Kumar Dash under Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act, 2018. Further investigation is underway.
