Bhubaneswar: A Special Vigilance Court in Sundargarh has sentenced Dr. Patita Paban Barik, a senior medical officer in Odisha’s public health system, to five years of rigorous imprisonment (RI) and imposed a fine for accepting a bribe of ₹10,000.
Dr. Barik, who was Medical Officer In-charge at Gurundia Community Health Centre (CHC) in Sundargarh district at the time of the offence, is currently posted at CHC Gurandi in Gajapati district.
The conviction stems from a case investigated by Odisha Vigilance. Dr. Barik was caught demanding and accepting the bribe from a vehicle owner in exchange for signing a log book necessary to process the vehicle’s hire charges.
He was prosecuted under Section 13(2) read with Section 13(1)(d) and Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988. Following the verdict, Dr. Barik has been taken into custody to begin serving his sentence.
Odisha Vigilance has announced it will now initiate proceedings to dismiss Dr. Barik from government service following his conviction.
