BHUBANESWAR: An Assistant Engineer of the State Government was arrested by the Vigilance on bribe charges on Monday. The accused, identified as Sanjib Kumar Nanda, was caught red handed by the sleuths while he was accepting a bribe of Rs 20,000 from a City-based contractor.
Nanda works at the office of Executive Engineer R&B Division-I in the City. He had demanded the amount from one Amlan Keshari Behera of Khandagiri for preparing bill for a Government work executed by the latter.
Vigilance SP Basanta Panigrahi said Behera had completed construction of three rooms in a Government quarters in Unit III area here. Nanda, who was entrusted the supervision work of the construction, took measurement of the work and reduced the construction area with an ulterior motive and prepared a bill for Rs 4.93 lakh against the work value of Rs 10 lakh.
“When Behera protested, Nanda demanded Rs 50,000 as bribe for preparation of bill for the rest amount. Subsequently, the negotiation was settled at Rs 20,000,” Panigrahi added.
On the basis of a complaint lodged by Behera, Bhubaneswar Vigilance Division laid a trap and arrested Nanda. He was booked under Prevention of Corruption Act and produced in a Vigilance court here.