More skeletons are tumbling out of the closet of Paradip port doctor Rajendra Narayan Panigrahi who was recently arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on the charges of graft on Thursday.
An audio clip in which Panigrahi is heard demanding for bribe from a shipping agent for issuing a clearance certificate has reportedly gone viral over various social media platforms.
In the audio, Panigrahi can be heard striking a deal with a shipping agent, identified as Soubhagya Majhi, in this regard over the telephone.
In the audio, the doctor asked the agent to confirm from the ship captain if a particular brand of liquor is available or not? If it is not available, then he is asking the agent to provide him some dollars.
As per the shipping agent Majhi, the doctor deals with the agents of all the vessels in a similar fashion.
As per reports, several shipping agents have fallen victim to such tricks of the doctor. As per the allegations by the agents, the doctor used to delay the work to extract money, costly gifts, imported liquors, and cigarettes from the shipping agents, crew, or whoever came to him for official work.
They also stated that the doctor would not work without any bribe in the form of costly gifts and cash in return for providing COVID-19 clearance to the crew members and shipping agents. All alleged that Dr Panigrahi was more interested in acquiring wealth than discharging his duties.
The CBI officials caught Panigrahi red-handed while he was accepting Rs 54,000 from the crew members of the Eminence Shipping Agency. Later, the CBI carried out raids on multiple locations linked to the doctor.
The officials have unearthed huge moveable and immovable property of Panigrahi at Praradip, Balasore, Cuttack, and Hyderabad. Net cash worth Rs 17 lakh, US Dollars worth over Rs 17 lakh, imported liquor and cigarettes, hard disks, and costly gifts have been seized from his official residence. Interestingly, the CBI has also found huge cash stashed inside the toilet of his rented house in Paradip.
More investigation into the alleged illegal activities of the doctor is currently underway.