Days before his retirement, Rayagada RDW-1 Executive Engineer nabbed while taking Rs 2 Lakh bribe

Rayagada: Prasanna Kumar Pattnaik, the Executive Engineer of RWD-I un Rayagada was apprehended by Odisha Vigilance while demanding and taking bribe Rs 2,00,000.

The Vigilance sleuths nabbed him while taking the bribe from a Contractor in lieu of clearing bills for work done and for issuing work experience certificate in his favour to facilitate participation in a tender process and for grant of work contract.

The contractor had been requesting accused EE Sri Pattnaik for some time past to issue work experience certificate in his favour.

In exchange for issuing the said certificate in favour of the contractor, Pattnaik demanded bribe Rs 2.5 Lakhs in lieu of bills worth Rs 50 Lakhs( @5% of Rs.50 Lakhs) cleared and for issuance of the certificate to enable him to participate in fresh tender. But, the contractor expressed his inability to pay the demanded bribe Rs 2.5 Lakhs.

However, on negotiation, Sri Pattnaik reduced the bribe amount to Rs. 2 Lakhs. Aggrieved over the demanded bribe, the contractor (Complainant) alerted the vigilance authorities.

Following this, last night, a team of Odisha Vigilance nabbed Pattnaik, while taking bribe Rs 2 Lakhs from the complainant.

The entire tainted bribe money if Rs 2 Lakhs has been recovered from the possession of Pattnaik and seized.

Following the trap, simultaneous searches have been launched at his residential house at Plot No- 286/11, Nandan Vihar, Basundhara Colony, Bhubaneswar, house at his native village Udaypatho Lane, PWD Road, Nayagada, his office chamber and residential Govt quarter at Rayagada.

Further, cash of Rs 3.39 Lakhs has been unearthed from his Govt quarter at Rayagada. With this the total cash recovered comes to Rs 5.39 lakh. The accused was due to retire on June 30, 2026.

In this connection, Koraput Vigilance P.S case No. 12/2026, U/s7 P.C (Amendment) Act, 2018 has been registered against the accused Pattnaik, EE.

Investigation into the case continues. Detailed report follows.