Odisha Vigilance nabs NHM Junior engineer for taking Rs 5000 bribe

Bhubaneswar: Odisha Vigilance on Wednesday arrested a Junior Engineer of the National Health Mission (NHM) posted under the office of the Chief District Medical and Public Health Officer (CDM&PHO), Sundargarh, for allegedly taking a bribe of Rs 5,000 .

The arrested the NHM JE  has been identified as Susanta Naik. The Junior Engineer was caught red-handed by Vigilance officials while he was allegedly demanding and taking the bribe of Rs 5,000 to process the release of an Initial Security Deposit (ISD) amount of Rs 21,000 from a man named Sesadeba Sanag of Kulabira village.

According to Vigilance sources, the Junior Engineer reportedly refused to release the money despite repeated request of Sesadeba and demanded Rs 5,000 to facilitate clearance of the payment.

Unable to secure the release of the deposit despite completion of the work, the contractor reportedly approached Vigilance authorities and lodged a complaint.

Acting on the complaint, a Vigilance team laid a trap and caught him red handed while he was allegedly receiving the bribe amount. The tainted cash of Rs 5,000 was recovered from his possession and subsequently seized.

Following the trap operation, simultaneous searches were launched at three locations linked to the accused from the disproportionate assets angle.