Bhubaneswar: Odisha Vigilance officials on Monday nabbed a Forest Rights Assistant (FRA) working in the office of the Sub Collector, Kuchinda in Sambalpur district for demanding and accepting a bribe.
According to an official press release, Vigilance officials apprehended FRA Roza alias Nighat Parbeen while demanding and accepting a bribe of Rs 8,000 as the second instalment of the overall demand of Rs 23,000 from a complainant (a representative of beneficiaries under the Forest Rights Act) to process file for issuance of Individual Forest Rights (IFR) from a group of beneficiaries under Forest Rights Act.
Earlier, accused Nighat Parbeen had taken Rs15,000 as 1st instalment from the complainant and was demanding the balance bribe amount of Rs 8,000 more to process their cases.
As the poor beneficiaries were unable to meet the demand, the complainant narrated the harassment before Vigilance officials.
Accordingly, Vigilance officials planned and nabbed Nighat Parbeen, today while she was accepting a bribe of Rs 8000 from the complainant.
Vigilance officials have recovered and seized the entire bribe money from the possession of accused FRA Nighat Parbeen.
Following the trap, Vigilance has launched simultaneous searches at two locations of accused FRA Nighat Parbeen.
The anti-graft agency has registered a case under section 7 of the P.C. Act, 1988 as amended by the P.C. Amendment Act, 2018.
Further investigation into the matter is in progress.
