BARGARH: Vigilance officials caught a junior engineer (JE) in Bargarh’s Gaisilet block red-handed while she was allegedly accepting Rs 8,000 bribe from a contractor on Tuesday.
Officials of the anti-corruption agency said the JE, Susmita Oram, had demanded a bribe of 10 per cent (Rs 32,000) of the contractor’s total bill to clear pending arrears related to a road improvement project under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS).
While the estimated cost of the project was Rs 9.5 lakh, bills worth Rs 3.15 lakh had already been paid. The contractor had previously paid Rs 24,000 to Oram and the JE reportedly demanded the remaining Rs 8,000 to finalise the bill clearance.
Subsequently, the contractor approached the Vigilance authorities following which a trap was laid to nab the JE. The officials recovered the entire bribe amount from Oram’s possession.
Later in the day, simultaneous searches were launched at two locations linked to the JE to investigate the disproportionate assets angle. A case has been registered under section 7 of Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act, 2018 against Oram and investigation is underway.
Oram had joined in Gaisilet block as JE on January 29 last year. This was her first posting.