Odisha Vigilance traps cop taking Rs 30K bribe

Bhubaneswar, June 1 The Odisha Vigilance Department on Wednesday arrested a sub-divisional police officer (SDPO) of Dhenkanal district for allegedly accepting Rs 30,000 bribe from a stone quarry owner to facilitate stone quarrying and transportation, officials said.

Based on a complaint lodged by the stone quarry owner, vigilance sleuths laid a trap and caught Hindol SDPO Malaya Kishore Nayak, red handed at Karanda junction while demanding and accepting the bribe from the complainant, an official said.

Vigilance has seized the cash, and raised residential government quarter of Nayak at Hindol in Dhenkanal town, a double-storeyed building at Amlapada, Angul, flat at Tata Ariana, Bhubaneswar and another flat at Kashi Jagannathpur, Puri.

It is suspected that Nayak was collecting bribes from various persons locally through cash as well as through electronic means such as ATM deposits, UPI payments etc, which are under verification, the officials said.

A team comprising cyber cell and banking consultants of the Vigilance are examining the financial transactions.

Soon after detection of the case, Nayak's wife Rita Mahapatra managed to escape from the residential government quarter at Hindol with a brief case and a bag. Efforts are on to trace her, they said.