Odisha: Female Vigilance Inspector held on graft charge

Sambalpur: The Vigilance officials today caught a female Vigilance Inspector along with a man red-handed while demanding and accepting Rs 10 lakh bribe for closure of a case.

Official sources said based on a complaint, the Internal Vigilance Unit of Odisha Vigilance laid a trap in the afternoon. When one Mukesh Sahoo on behalf of Vigilance Inspector Manasi Jena was accepting Rs 10 lakh bribe from the complainant, the sleuths arrested Sahoo.

Jena and associate Sahoo were caught by the team of Odisha Vigilance while demanding and accepting the bribe amount from the complainant. Sahoo received the bribe money as per direction of Jena from the complainant. The entire bribe money was recovered from the possession of Sahoo and seized in presence of witnesses.

Both hands wash of Sahoo gave positive chemical reaction, confirming acceptance and handling of bribe money by him. Following the trap, simultaneous searches have been launched at four locations of Jena, Vigilance Inspector at Sambalpur, Sundargarh, Bhubaneswar and at the residential house of Sahoo at Bargarh.

In this connection, Vigilance Cell P.S. Case No.5 dated 12.05.2022 U/s 7/12 PC Act, 1988 as amended by PC (Amendment) Act, 2018 has been registered against accused Jena and Sahoo and is under investigation.

In his reaction, YK Jethwa, Director, Vigilance stated, “We have activated the Internal Vigilance Unit which is operating within the Cell Division of Vigilance Directorate. It is exclusively focused on keeping a watch on activities of Vigilance Officials. We are committed to take strong action against anyone indulging in corrupt practices.”