ROURKELA: Vigilance officials on Tuesday caught the deputy ranger of Bisra under Rourkela forest division red-handed while he was accepting a bribe of Rs 18,000 from a person.
A senior officer in Rourkela Vigilance division said deputy ranger Asit Pattanayak had demanded the bribe from the complainant whose vehicle was engaged for official use in the Forest department on a hiring basis. The vehicle owner lodged a complaint stating that Pattanayak was demanding Rs 18,000 bribe to release his dues for the month of April and allow him to continue his services in May.
Accordingly, a trap was laid and Asit was caught red-handed while he was taking the bribe at his office-cum-residence in Bisra block at around 3.45 pm. The Vigilance officer said his office-cum-residence at Bisra, rented house at Basanti Colony in Rourkela, a flat in Bhubaneswar and his paternal house in Mayurbhanj district were simultaneously searched to determine his disproportionate assets, if any.
On completion of investigation, he would be arrested and produced in the Vigilance court at Sundargarh town.