BHUBANESWAR: Vigilance on Sunday caught a junior engineer posted at Bhapur rural works section in Nayagarh and his associate red-handed while they were allegedly accepting Rs 1.36 lakh bribe from a contractor for clearing the bills and refunding his security deposit.
The accused are junior engineer Keshab Subudhi and his associate Ashutosh Baliarsingh. After receiving complaint from the contractor, officials of the anti-corruption agency raided Subudhi’s quarter in Khandapada, nabbed the duo and seized the bribe money from their possession.
Vigilance officials said the contractor was involved in construction and maintenance works of a road in Khandapada area in 2021-2022 under Mukhya Mantri Sadak Yojana (MMSY) scheme.
As per the state government norms, initial security deposit (ISD) and security deposit are returned to a contractor after completion of the maintenance period. However, ISD and security deposit of a contractor are forfeited if the measurements of the maintenance work carried out by him are not taken by the authorities concerned.
The complainant was for the past three to four months requesting the junior engineer to release his security deposit but the latter allegedly sought bribe for the same.
After arresting Subudhi, the Vigilance carried out simultaneous searches at his office chamber, quarter in Khandapada and flat in Bhubaneswar’s Hanspal area on the day. Around 17 notes of Rs 2,000 denomination were seized from his quarter.
Subudhi had joined the service in February, 2014 as a junior engineer (contractual) at Nabarangpur rural works division-II with initial monthly salary of Rs 9,300.
He was transferred and posted as junior engineer, rural works division, Nayagarh, in September 2020, and has been working there since. He was regularised on October 2022.