Berhampur (Odisha), Feb 18: A gutkha trader was arrested by the state vigilance sleuths here for allegedly offering Rs two lakh bribe to a police officer to get his seized commodities released, vigilance officials said.
K Rabindra Kumar Patra (35) was arrested while he offered the cash to Inspector In-charge of Bada Bazaar police station S K Tripathy in his office on Tuesday night requesting him not to initiate any legal action against him, Vigilance SP (Berhampur) Manoranjan Panda said.
Huge quantities of gutka were seized from his godown during a raid conducted early on Tuesday.
“The person offered me bribe repeatedly after we raided his godown. I refused to take bribe and informed the vigilance officials about it leading to his arrest,” said Tripathy.
Vigilance sleuths had also arrested two others on Tuesday in Aska and Boudh for allegedly accepting bribes.
Junior engineer (Aska block) in Ganjam district, Meheboob Alam was arrested for allegedly accepting bribe of Rs 10,000 from a village labour leader to process pending bills of the labourers.
In another case, K Kameswar Patra, section officer in the divisional manager office, Odisha Forest Development Corporation, Boudh, was arrested for allegedly accepting Rs 3,000 bribe from a person to process and prepare his pending transportation bill, a vigilance official said.
