Bhubaneswar, Jan 4 (IANS) The Odisha Vigilance, on Sunday, arrested a senior Inspector of the state police over corruption charges after he was caught red-handed while receiving a bribe from a licensed liquor vendor to allow his business to run smoothly.

The accused, Bijay Kumar Barik, is currently posted as the Inspector-in-Charge of the CRRI Police Station in Cuttack.

The vendor had lodged a complaint with the Vigilance Department, alleging that the accused Barik was repeatedly insisting on the payment of undue financial favours on different occasions.

Finding it too difficult to meet these continuous demands for money, the vendor approached the Vigilance authorities.

Acting on the complaint, the Vigilance officials laid a trap on Sunday and caught Barik red-handed while receiving a bribe of Rs 40,000 from the vendor at Rajmahal Chowk in Bhubaneswar.

The entire bribe money has been recovered from Barik’s possession in presence of witnesses.

Following the trap, simultaneous searches have been conducted on the residential government quarter of Barik at Unit-1 in Bhubaneswar and his office chamber in Cuttack.

The anti-corruption sleuths found Barik in possession of a triple-storeyed building at Sisupalgarh in Bhubaneswar, newly constructed double-storeyed building at Derabis in Kendrapara district and Rs 4,96,120 in cash during the searches at the residential government quarter and chamber of Barik.

In this connection, a case has been registered at the Vigilance Cell Police Station under Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act, 2018.

Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi on Friday advised the state Vigilance department to continue its drive against corruption, asserting that the time has come to make Odisha corruption-free and set an example that would deter government officials from engaging in corrupt practices.

In 2025, Vigilance teams conducted raids at 487 locations across the state and took action in cases involving disproportionate assets and bribery.

As part of the crackdown, 1,199 bank accounts linked to corrupt government officials were frozen.

Significant assets were seized during these operations, including 153 buildings, 417 plots of land, 12 farmhouses and 18.3 kg of gold.

–IANS

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