BEO office accountant caught while ‘accepting bribe’ from teacher in Odisha

Odisha Vigilance sleuths on Thursday apprehended Suryakanta Swain, an accountant at the Block Education Office (BEO), Kujanga in Jagatsinghpur while accepting a bribe of Rs 5,000 from a government school teacher.

According to official sources, the teacher had earlier been sanctioned a house building advance of Rs 1.5 lakh by the competent government authority. However, despite the sanction, Swain allegedly delayed the bill processing without any valid reason and instead demanded Rs 5,000 as a bribe for preparing and forwarding the bill.

Finding no alternative, the complainant approached the Vigilance Department with a formal complaint, sources added. 

Acting on the tip-off, Vigilance officials laid a trap and ‘caught Swain red-handed inside his office while accepting the bribe amount’. The entire sum of Rs 5,000 has been recovered from his possession and seized as evidence.

Following the arrest, simultaneous searches were launched at two separate locations linked to Swain to investigate disproportionate assets.

Meanwhile, a case has been registered against Swain under Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act, 2018.

Further investigation is underway, and more details are expected to emerge as the probe progresses.