CUTTACK: Vigilance on Sunday arrested the inspector-in-charge (IIC) of CRRI police station for allegedly accepting bribe of Rs 40,000 from a licensed liquor trader in the city to allow his business to run smoothly.
The accused was identified as Bijay Kumar Barik (43). Acting on a complaint from the liquor trader, officials of the anti-corruption agency laid a trap and caught Barik red-handed while he was accepting the bribe at Raj Mahal Square in Bhubaneswar.
As per the complainant, Barik had taken bribe from him on several occasions but kept demanding more so as to allow him to run his business smoothly. Finding no other option, he lodged a complaint. “A case was registered and Barik arrested and produced in court. Further investigation is underway,” informed Vigilance SP Susant Kumar Biswal.
While the entire bribe money was seized from Barik’s possession, Vigilance launched simultaneous raids at two locations linked to him including his government quarters and his office chamber on suspicion of possession of disproportionate assets.
During the raids, the officials recovered over Rs 4.96 lakh cash, 150 gram gold ornaments and 10 expensive wrist watches from his government quarters at Unit-I in Bhubaneswar. Besides, they also found a triple-storey building in the name of Barik’s wife at Sishupalgarh and a newly-constructed double-storey building at his native village Derabish in Kendrapara district. The valuation of the property is still underway, Vigilance officials said.
Barik had joined service as a sub-inspector in 2012 with a monthly salary of Rs 22,775. He worked in that capacity in different police stations in Boudh district from January 2014 to February 2019. He was promoted to inspector in March 2019 and posted as IIC of Nayapalli police station under Bhubaneswar-Cuttack Commissionerate Police. From February, 2024 he had been working as IIC of CRRI police station in Cuttack UPD.