Bhubaneswar: Odisha’s anti-corruption vigilance sleuths arrested an executive engineer of a power distribution company on charges of taking a bribe from a contractor for furnishing a final inspection report for the supply of electricity to install a transformer, an official statement said.
The accused official was identified as Tusharkant Ray, Executive Engineer (Quality), Circle-I, TPCODL, Bhubaneswar. He was caught red-handed by Odisha Vigilance while demanding and taking a bribe of Rs 20,000 from an electrical contractor for giving a final inspection report in his favour for the supply of electricity to the transformer of an apartment building.
“Wednesday night, Ray was apprehended by Odisha Vigilance while demanding and taking a bribe. For the last two months, the contractor had been requesting Ray to furnish the final report to enable him to get payment against his bill. But, Ray demanded a bribe of Rs 20,000 to furnish the report,” a statement released by vigilance said.
However, finding no other way, the contractor drew the attention of the vigilance authorities to the matter. Falling into the trap laid by the vigilance, the accused engineer called the contractor to his residence. On arrival, he took him out to a park outside his house. There, he asked him to hand over the cash, which was then seized by the vigilance team watching his movements, an official said.
The entire bribe money of Rs 20,000 has been recovered from the possession of Ray, he said, adding that following the successful trap, simultaneous searches were carried out at three locations associated with Ray.
During searches that continued till early morning, the vigilance has so far unearthed cash of Rs 9,53,200 from his residence and seized it.
In this connection, Vigilance has registered a case under section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act, 2018, against Ray, and investigation is in progress, he said.
PTI
