Bhubaneswar: Odisha Vigilance officials Thursday trapped and arrested Chandrajit Parija, a programmer in the office of the District Project Coordinator, Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), Jagatsinghpur, while allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 30,000 from an executant for clearing his pending bills. Vigilance sources said Parija had demanded the bribe from the complainant for inspecting digital blackboard installation works carried out in schools in Jagatsinghpur district and facilitating clearance of his pending bills. Parija, who was a member of the procurement and technical committee, was responsible for inspecting the installation work and certifying it, following which the bills were released in favour of the executant.
Despite repeated requests, Parija allegedly did not take steps to inspect the completed works and instead demanded Rs 30,000 from the complainant for processing and clearing the pending bills. Aggrieved by the demand, the complainant approached the Vigilance authorities and lodged a complaint alleging harassment by Parija.
Acting on the complaint, a Vigilance team laid a trap Thursday and caught Parija while allegedly accepting the bribe of Rs 30,000 from the complainant. The entire tainted bribe amount was recovered from Parija’s exclusive pos session and seized, Vigilance sources said. Following the trap, simultaneous searches are being conducted at three locations linked to Parija to ascertain his disproportionate assets. The Cuttack Vigilance Division has registered a case against Parija under Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act, 2018, and further investigation is underway.
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