India News | Tehsildar Arrested in Odisha for Receiving Rs 12 Lakh Bribe

Bhubaneswar, May 30 (PTI) Vigilance sleuths Tuesday arrested Karanjia tehsildar in Mayurbhanj district for allegedly receiving a bribe of Rs 12 lakh through two cheques from a person, an official said.

The tehsildar, Charles Nayak, had allegedly demanded a bribe from the complainant to release his compensation amount of Rs 51.75 lakh for the acquisition of his land by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), the official said.

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He had demanded the bribe through two cheques of Rs 10 lakh and Rs 2 lakh, to release the compensation money.

The victim handed over the cheques to Nayak and then informed the anti-corruption agency about the matter following which he has been arrested.

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The vigilance official said searches are being carried out at Nayak's office chamber and government quarter in Karanjia and at his house in Bhadrak.

“This is the first case of a government official receiving bribe through cheques and also the highest-ever bribe amount collected by a government officer arrested by the vigilance in Odisha,” the official said.

The vigilance officials on Monday arrested one Tarun Ranjan Nayak, an official of a power distribution company, at Nayapalli in Bhubaneswar. Nayak had allegedly received the bribe through his associate Sailaja Muduli. They had accepted Rs 10,000 as a bribe from a person through PhonePe (digital mode) for processing the grievance application for the electricity connection.

"In both the cases, private persons helping government servants by taking bribe money in their PhonePe/Bank accounts have also been arrested/ prosecuted,” a vigilance release said, warning of strong action against the corrupt officials and their facilitators.

“Remember, you aren't safe when taking bribes through PhonePe. We will follow the digital footprints and come after you,” the release said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)