3 days before retirement, Kendrapara District Education Officer arrested for bribery

Barely three days before his retirement, the District Education Officer (DEO) of Kendrapara, Sanjib Kumar Singh, was arrested on Wednesday by the Odisha Vigilance officials for allegedly taking bribe. 

Singh's superannuation was due on July 30.

Singh was apprehended by the anti-corruption sleuths while he was accepting a bribe of Rs 20,000 from a complainant for cancelation of his transfer order and modification of the same to another place as per the choice of the complainant. The entire bribe money has been recovered from Singh and seized. 

The complainant has been identified as Santosh Kundu who is a fourth class employee of Nimpur school under Pattamundai Block in the district. As per the trap, Singh was caught red-handed while accepting the bribe at his rented house near Tinimuhani Square.

After his arrest, simultaneous raids have been launched at four locations including Singh's rented house, residence in Cuttack, and ancestral home in Balasore on charges of accumulation of assets disproportionate to his own source of income.

In this connection, a case (42/ 2022) under Section 7 of PC Amendment Act 2018 has been registered at Cuttack Vigilance police station. Further investigation into the case is underway.

Notably, several allegations were brought against Singh earlier for taking bribes to transfer employees and prepare bills.