Fisheries officer under Odisha Vigilance scanner for taking bribe

A team of Odisha Vigilance sleuths caught an assistant fisheries officer (AFO) for allegedly taking a bribe on Thursday. He works in Biramaharajpur and was identified as Bibhuti Bhusan Pradhan. The AFO was caught along with another person named Babulal Barik.

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According to official sources, AFO Pradhan and Barik were nabbed while taking a bribe of Rs 30,000 from a women's self-help group (WSHG) to release a subsidy amount. Later, the duo was arrested by Subarnapur Police over graft charges.

The AFO had to release the second phase of subsidy under the ‘Carp Grow-out in GP tank by WSHG’ scheme. Earlier, Pradhan had demanded Rs 45,000 from the complainant to release the subsidy amount in favour of their WSHG.

As the female complainant expressed her inability to pay the huge bribe amount, Pradhan subsequently reduced the bribe amount to Rs 30,000. Left with no option, the complainant reported the matter to the Vigilance authorities.

Based on the complaint, Vigilance officials laid a trap leading to the arrest. The AFO, while takinga  bribe from the complainant through Barik, was caught red-handed. The entire bribe amount has been recovered from the possession of the accused duo and seized.

Both accused persons have been detained at the Fisheries Office in Sonepur town for further interrogation by the Vigilance officials.

Simultaneous house searches underway

Following the trap, simultaneous searches are going on at two locations of Pradhan and one place of Barik from the DA angle.

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A Sambalpur Vigilance PS case (No-10, Dated: 30.04.2025 under Sections 7/12 of the PC (Amendment) Act, 2018 has been registered in this connection against the accused persons. A detailed probe into the offense is underway, a Vigilance press release said.