Four Govt functionaries arrested on same day by Odisha Vigilance in bribery cases

Bhubaneswar: As many as four Odisha government functionaries were arrested and forwarded to the court by the Vigilance officials in bribery cases in a single day on Thursday.

As informed by the vigilance department in three separate operations yesterday, a total of four government functionaries including two health staffers of office of Chief District Medical Officer (CDMO), Parlakhemundi in Gajapati district, one health staffer of Muniguda Community Health Centre (CHC) in Rayagada district and one Junior clerk of office of Mahakalpada Block Education Officer (BEO) in Kendrapara who were nabbed yesterday, were arrested today by Odisha Vigilance in bribery cases and are being forwarded to the Vigilance courts.

The two staffers of the Parlakhemundi CDMO who have been arrested are Jagdish Pattnaik, a clerk, and Niranjan Nayak, a peon. Likewise, the arrested Muniguda CHC staff has been identified as Kunja Bihari Rout, a Male Health Worker (MHW)-cum-Clerk, while the Mahakalpada BEO office junior clerk’s name is Narayan Prasad Lenka. He was arrested on charges of demanding 15,000 bribe from a headmaster in order to process the final instalment of a Rs 6.20 lakh housing loan and clear the complainant’s pending salary, travel allowance bills, and other dues.

Kunja Bihari Rout was apprehended while taking 2nd & final instalment of bribe Rs 3,000/-of overall demand of Rs 6,000 from a poor farmer for issuance of birth certificate of his son.

Further, following trap of Jagdish Pattnaik, Clerk along with Niranjan Nayak, Peon O/o CDMO, Parlakhemundi, searches were carried out by Vigilance teams and Rs 5,19, 700 from table drawer of Pattnaik and Rs 1.5 Lakhs from his Government quarter at Parlakhemundi were unearthed and seized.  They were nabbed while extorting money from a young medical doctor seeking a contractual appointment.

Total cash seizure comes to Rs 6,69,700. The cash appears to be ill-gotten bribery money. The Clerk is being interrogated to ascertain the source of the same. Further report follows.