Headmaster gulps down bank slip on seeing Odisha Vigilance sleuths

Bhawanipatna: In a bizarre incident, a school headmaster swallowed a bank deposit slip of cash that he allegedly received as bribe after seeing a Vigilance team at a state-run school in Kalahandi district today.

According to reports, Drona Kumar Tandi, the headmaster at Trishakti High School at Makaraguda under Kegaon police limits in Kalahandi district, had demanded Rs 40,000 bribe from a contractor for clearing his bill with regard to construction of a new building of the school. He asked the contractor to deposit the bribe amount in his bank account.

After depositing cash at the headmaster’s bank account, the contractor handed over the counter foil of the deposit slip of Rs 40,000 to Tandi today.

On receiving information, the Vigilance sleuths reached the school to nab the accused in a bribery case lodged by the contractor. However, Tandi swallowed the bank deposit slip on seeing the Vigilance team at the school.

During verification of the cell phone of the headmaster, the Vigilance sleuths found a received message regarding credit of Rs 40,000 deposited in cash mode by the complainant.

Following the incident, the Vigilance team apprehended the headmaster Drona Tandi on charges of accepting bribe and carried out searches at two locations to probe the case from disproportionate asset (DA) angle.

A case in this connection has been registered by the Koraput Vigilance U/s 7 P.C (Amendment) Act, 2018. The investigation is in progress against accused headmaster.