JAJPUR: Vigilance officials on Monday caught the district employment officer (DEO) of Jajpur red-handed while he was accepting Rs 12,600 bribe from a driver through a clerk.
The accused DEO was identified as Tapas Swain. Vigilance officials also apprehended senior clerk in the district employment office Jitendra Sethy. The clerk was taking the bribe money on behalf of the DEO from a driver whose vehicle has been engaged in the employment office.
Sources said one Bibekananda Mohapatra had engaged his vehicle in the employment office on rent for official purpose. The hiring and fuel cost of the vehicle was not paid to him for the last couple of months. When Mohapatra asked the DEO to release the dues, the latter demanded a bribe.
Vigilance officials are carrying out simultaneous searches at Swain’s properties including his flat and a double-storey building in Bhubaneswar and house at native village in Cuttack’s Niali.