Odisha vigilance department on Thursday arrested an executive engineer of Tata Power Central Odisha Distribution Limited (TPCODL) for accepting a bribe of ₹20,000 from an electrical contractor.
The team has also found deposits of approximately ₹1.85 crore during a raid at his house. The accused engineer, Tusharkant Ray, is currently posted as executive engineer (Quality), Circle-I, of TPCODL in Bhubaneswar.
The authorities apprehended him while he was allegedly demanding and accepting a bribe of ₹20,000 from an electrical contractor (the complainant) for providing an inspection report in the contractor’s favour for the supply of electricity to the transformer of an apartment building installed by the contractor.
“For the last two months, the complainant had been requesting Ray to furnish a compliance repor. However, Ray demanded a bribe of ₹20,000 from the contractor to furnish the report. Finding no other way, the contractor had approached the vigilance officials about the matter,” the vigilance bureau said in a release.
Based on the above complaint, the officials laid a trap on Wednesday night, wherein Ray was apprehended by the vigilance team in a park outside his residence for allegedly accepting a bribe of ₹20,000 from the complainant. “The entire bribe money was recovered and seized from the possession of Ray in the presence of witnesses,” the vigilance said in a release.
Soon after, simultaneous searches were launched at the rented residential building of Ray at VIM-369, Sailashree Vihar, Bhubaneswar, his paternal house at HIG-88, Kanan Vihar, Phase-I, Bhubaneswar, and his office chamber.
“During the search, cash amounting to ₹9,53,200 was recovered from his rented residential building at Sailashree Vihar, Bhubaneswa. Many of the cash deposits are suspected to have been made from bribe money,” the vigilance in a release said
The vigilance authorities lodged a case under the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act, 2018.
In a related development, a former motor vehicle inspector Bijay Kumar Pati was convicted and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of two years and asked to pay a fine of ₹1,00,000 for accumulating properties disproportionate to his known source of income.