The Vigilance sleuths on Wednesday caught Khordha block’s junior engineer Sangeeta Mohapatra while allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 50,000 from a contractor to clear his pending bills amounting to Rs 18 lakh.
As per initial reports, Mohapatra had allegedly demanded Rs 2 lakh for clearing the final bill of the contractor pertaining to two road construction projects in the area. It is said that recently, Mohapatra was promoted to the assistant engineer rank. Mohapatra was allegedly taking Rs 50,000 from the complainant inside her office when she was apprehended by Vigilance officials on Wednesday.
Some files have been seized from Mohapatra’s office and raids are being conducted at her residence and places linked to her. Sources said that Mohapatra was in charge of projects worth Rs 10 crore in Khordha block. She was earlier working with the Khordha Municipality.
The Vigilance is learned to conduct an investigation into the quality of developmental works in the area. Bhubaneswar Vigilance has registered a case against the official and further investigation is in progress, officials said.