SAMBALPUR : The vigilance on Monday arrested a forest rights assistant (FRA), Nighat Parbeen, posted at office of the sub-collector, Kuchinda in the district while allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 8,000.
According to an official release, the accused had demanded a bribe Rs 23,000 from a representative of beneficiaries under Forest Rights Act to process a file for issuing Individual Forest Rights (IFR). She had earlier allegedly taken Rs 15,000 and had been demanding another Rs 8,000 to get the work done.
As the beneficiaries were unable to meet the demand, the complainant narrated the harassment before Vigilance authority. Accordingly, Vigilance officials planned and nabbed Parbeen while accepting the bribe amount of Rs 8,000 from the complainant on the day. The entire bribe money was recovered and seized. Simultaneous searches were launched at two locations of the accused.
In this connection, a case has been registered under section 7 of the PC Act, 1988 as amended by PC Amendment Act, 2018.