Bhubaneswar: The Superintendent of Excise in Keonjhar and another official of the department were today arrested by the Odisha Vigilance on charges of taking bribe from a liquor vendor.

The Vigilance sleuths arrested Keonjhar Superintendent of Excise Sitarani Pattayat and Champua Excise station ASI Bijay Kumar Mohanta for demanding and accepting Rs 40,000 as bribe from a licenced liquor vendor.

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According to the Vigilance Department, Pattayat was seeking bribe from the liquor vendor soon after she joined as the Excise Superintendent in Keonjhar around four months ago.

Simultaneous searches underway to trace disproportionate assets   

The aggrieved vendor had lodged a complaint in this regard with the Vigilance Department.

The Vigilance officials today arrested Pattayat and Mohanta, who allegedly received the bribe amount from the liquor vendor as per the instruction of the Excise Superintendent. The entire bribe money has been recovered from them and seized, said the Vigilance Department.

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Following the trap, simultaneous searches are going on at three locations connected to Pattayat and two locations linked to Mohanta to trace any disproportionate assets (DA) amassed by them.  

A case has been registered against the two officials at Balasore Vigilance Police Station under Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act-2018.