Bhubaneswar, June 5 (IANS) Odisha Vigilance on Friday arrested a junior assistant working in the office of the District Education Officer (DEO) of Bhadrak district for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 10,000 from a private school functionary for processing a file related to the issuance of a recognition certificate in favour of the school.

The accused has been identified as Srikanta Kumar Dash, Junior Assistant in the DEO office, Bhadrak.

According to Vigilance sources, Dash allegedly demanded Rs 10,000 from a representative of a private school to facilitate the processing of a file for the institution’s recognition. The complainant reportedly approached Dash several times and requested that he process the file without any illegal payment.

However, the accused allegedly insisted on receiving the bribe amount before taking further action on the matter. Finding no other means, the school functionary lodged a complaint with Odisha Vigilance on Thursday.

Acting on the complaint, Vigilance officials laid a trap on Friday to nab the accused red-handed. Dash was reportedly apprehended on the premises of the DEO office while allegedly demanding and accepting a bribe from the complainant.

The entire tainted amount of Rs 10,000 was recovered from the accused’s possession and seized in the presence of independent witnesses. Officials said chemical tests conducted on the hand-wash and pant-pocket samples from Dash yielded positive results, confirming that he had handled the bribe money.

Following the successful trap, Vigilance teams launched simultaneous searches at Dash’s residential house in Bhadrak town and his office to investigate his financial assets and gather additional evidence. The anti-corruption sleuths later arrested the accused and forwarded him to the court.

In this connection, a case (9/26) has been registered at the Balasore Vigilance Police Station under Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act, 2018.

–IANS

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