Bhubaneswar: The Odisha Vigilance on Monday arrested an Assistant Executive Engineer (AEE) and a Junior Engineer (JE) of the Odisha Lift Irrigation Corporation for allegedly demanding and accepting a bribe of Rs 60,000 from a contractor in Mayurbhanj district.

The accused officials have been identified as Harekrushna Sing, Assistant Executive Engineer, and Subrat Mohanty, Junior Engineer.

Bribe linked to release of pending bills

According to the Vigilance, the two officials had demanded a bribe for releasing pending bills of work already executed by the contractor. The contractor had completed lift irrigation projects worth around Rs 25 lakh, but bills amounting to about Rs 5 lakh were allegedly withheld. The officials had also not released the security deposit.

The Vigilance said the duo demanded a total bribe of Rs 1.10 lakh, calculated at 4.5 per cent of the work value, with 1.5 per cent for the AEE and 3 per cent for the JE.

Contractor approaches Vigilance

Harassed by the repeated demand, the contractor approached the Vigilance authorities. Acting on the complaint, a trap was laid, and both officials were caught red-handed while taking the first instalment of the bribe.

The amount seized included Rs 32,000 meant for the AEE and Rs 28,000 for the JE. The entire tainted cash of Rs 60,000 was recovered from their exclusive possession and seized.

Case registered

Following the arrest, Vigilance teams launched simultaneous searches at two locations linked to the AEE and three locations associated with the JE from a disproportionate assets angle.

In this connection, Balasore Vigilance Police Station has registered a case against both officials. Further investigation is underway.