Bhubaneswar, Aug. 23: A sub-inspector (SI) of Jatni police station, a home guard and a laundry owner were today sent to jail in a bribery case after their bail pleas were rejected by a local court here.
The SI, Naba Kishore Mohapatra, was caught red-handed by vigilance officials yesterday while taking a bribe of Rs 2,500 from a businessman to release his truck that had been detained by police for traffic violation. The home guard, Kedar Sahu, and laundry owner, Chakara Sethi were arrested for helping the policeman take the bribe.
Vigilance officials raided the SI’s house and seized cash worth more than Rs 4 lakh hidden at different places. The anti-corruption officials also seized documents of two plots owned by Mohapatra and some insurance policy bonds.
The trio were today produced before the court of the special vigilance judge, S.K. Mohanty.
“The court rejected their bail pleas and sent them to Jharapada special jail till August 26, as the next hearing on their bail application was kept for that day,” said Dilip Chhotray, special public prosecutor, vigilance.
The vigilance officials said the matter came to light after a mini truck owned by a businessman of Bamikhal area had been detained by Mohapatra while the vehicle driver was trying to pass through a no-entry zone the previous evening. Mohapatra allegedly demanded a bribe to let the vehicle off.
As the truck was detained, the owner agreed to pay him the bribe. He bargained with Mohapatra and agreed to pay him Rs 2,500 instead of the original demand for Rs 5,000. Later, the truck owner approached the vigilance officials and lodged a complaint.
“We instructed the complainant to do what the police officer had told him and he did,” said Mayadhar Swain, deputy superintendent of police, vigilance.
When he went to pay Mohapatra the money, the SI instructed him to hand the money over to laundry owner Sethi. Then the SI sent the home guard, Sahu, to collect the money from Sethi. While Sahu was handing over the money to Mohapatra, the vigilance officials, who were hiding nearby, caught them red-handed.
The cash was seized and the hands of all three men involved were examined for any chemical reaction. The results were positive. Soon, another team raided Mohapatra’s house.
