2019 OAS Topper Aswini Panda in Vigilance Snare

Sambalpur: 2019 Odisha Administrative Service (OAS) topper Aswini Kumar Panda, who is currently posted as the Tahasildar of Bamra in Sambalpur, has landed in vigilance scanner while taking bribe Rs 15,000.

As informed by the Vigilance department, Panda was nabbed while demanding and accepting bribe of Rs 15,000 from the complainant for conversion of agricultural land to homestead land in a mutation case.

For about a month, the complainant had been requesting Tahasildar for conversion of agricultural land. But, Panda demanded bribe Rs 20,000 to allow conversion and issue of RORs in favour of complainant. When the complainant. expressed his inability to pay such a huge amount as bribe, Panda reduced the bribe amount to Rs 15,000 and threatened to not allow the conversion in mutation case otherwise.

Left with no other option, the complainant approached the Vigilance authorities, following which, a team of Odisha Vigilance nabbed Panda today while taking the bribe from the complainant through his office driver P. Praveen Kumar. The driver has also been taken into custody. The entire tainted bribe money Rs 15,000 has been recovered from them and seized.

Following the trap, simultaneous searches are going on at three locations of the Tahasildar from Disproportionate Assets (DA) angle.

During the simultaneous searches, the Vigilance team so far has unearthed cash of Rs 4.73 Lakh from his residential house at May-Fair Road, Bhubaneswar and seized. Further searches continuing.

In this connection, Sambalpur Vigilance P.S. Case No.17 dt.11.09.2025 U/s.7 P.C. (Amendment) Act, 2018 has been registered. Investigation is in progress against both the accused persons namely Panda and P. Praveen Kumar.