Sundargarh: In yet another anti-corruption operation, the Odisha Vigilance has apprehended Sumanta Naik, Junior Engineer (JE) under National Health Mission (NHM) at the office of CDM & PHO, Sundargarh, while accepting a bribe of Rs 5,000.
According to the Vigilance, the accused Junior Engineer was demanding the bribe from a contractor to process the release of his Initial Security Deposit (ISD) for repair and renovation work of a Primary Health Centre (PHC) building and staff quarters in Sundargarh district.
Despite the contractor completing the work, Naik was allegedly delaying the file and demanding money for clearing the pending security deposit. The contractor reported the matter to the Vigilance authorities, leading to a trap. Upon being informed, Vigilance officials caught Naik red-handed in his office room while accepting the bribe of Rs 5,000 from the contractor. The entire bribe amount has been seized from his possession.
Following the trap, simultaneous searches are being conducted at three locations linked to the accused from the disproportionate assets (DA) angle. In this connection, Rourkela Vigilance Police Station Case No. 03/2026 has been registered under Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act, 2018.
Further investigation is underway.
