Taraboda: Vigilance sleuths arrested Nuapada district labour officer (DLO) Sarat Kumar Panigrahi Friday afternoon, while demanding and accepting a bribe of Rs 40,000.
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According to a source, Panigrahi was accepting a bribe in his office at Khariar Road in Nuapada. The complainant Srinivas Behera belongs to Palsada village under Boden police limits in the district. The unscrupulous official demanded a bribe from the complainant to issue labour cards to 200 persons in the village.
“As per government norms, the prescribed fee for registration of a labour card is only Rs 70. Accordingly, the complainant should have deposited Rs 14,000 against the issue of 200 cards. However, Panigrahi was demanding Rs 40,000 for 200 labour cards,” Bhawanipatna Vigilance DSP Satyaban Mahananda said.
“Acting on a complaint by Behera, we nabbed him red-handed while accepting the bribe amount. A case has been registered in this connection and the accused will be forwarded to court Saturday,” added the anti-corruption agency official.
PNN