Bhubaneswar: Odisha Vigilance officials Friday apprehended a Junior Revenue Assistant (JRA) of the Sub-Collector’s Office, Jajpur, while allegedly demanding and accepting a bribe of Rs 40,000 from an applicant for processing a land purchase permission file.
The accused was identified as Prasanna Kumar Sahani, Junior Revenue Assistant in the Office of the Sub-Collector, Jajpur.
According to Vigilance sources, Sahani had allegedly demanded the bribe from the complainant for processing a file seeking permission from the competent authority to purchase 16 decimal of land from a landowner belonging to the Scheduled Caste community.
Under the law, prior permission of the competent authority is required for purchase of land from persons belonging to the SC/ST categories.
The complainant had applied November 29, 2025, at the Sub-Collector’s Office, Jajpur, seeking permission to purchase the land in the name of his mother.
However, Sahani allegedly delayed processing the application and subsequently demanded a bribe of Rs 48,000 at the rate of Rs 3,000 per decimal, despite repeated requests from the applicant.
When the complainant expressed his inability to pay the demanded amount, Sahani allegedly reduced the bribe to Rs 40,000.
Aggrieved by the alleged harassment and unable to meet the demand, the complainant approached the Odisha Vigilance authorities and lodged a complaint against Sahani.
Acting on the complaint, a Vigilance team laid a trap and caught Sahani while allegedly accepting the bribe of Rs 40,000 in his office room.
The entire tainted bribe amount of Rs 40,000 was recovered from Sahani’s exclusive possession and seized, Vigilance sources said.
Following the trap, simultaneous searches are being conducted at two locations linked to Sahani to ascertain whether he has amassed disproportionate assets.
A case has been registered against Sahani under Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act, 2018, and further investigation is underway, the sources added.