Bhubaneswar, May 22: The vigilance sleuths today arrested inspector in-charge of Dhauli police station on the charge of taking a bribe of Rs 10,000 from a person accused in a criminal case.

Police officer Debi Prasad Das, 46, was allegedly caught red-handed while taking money from Rakesh Das, 32, a resident of Lingipur under Dhauli police station.

Rakesh said the police officer had demanded a bribe of Rs 20,000 to drop a case registered against him. He also claimed that the allegations against him were false.

Rakesh said he had lodged a complaint against the owner of a private hospital, which used to dispose of medical waste by burning it in the open.

"Unable to bear with the foul smell, I had lodged a complaint against the owner and subsequently the police had cautioned him. But later the owner lodged a false complaint against me in April that I had issued threats to him." Rakesh said.

"Since he knew that it was a false case, he demanded money from me to drop it. While Das had demanded Rs 10,000 today, he had asked me to give the rest of the amount on Saturday," Rakesh said.

After getting the complaint, the vigilance sleuths laid a trap and Das, a 1995 batch officer, was subsequently arrested.

Later, the vigilance sleuths also raided his residence in the Pokhariput.

This is the third incident of arrest of a policeman on charges of accepting bribe in the past five months.

On January 7, Rakesh Samantaray, a sub-inspector of Jatni police station, was caught while accepting a bribe of Rs 10,000 to quash a case.