Sundergarh: Vigilance sleuths today nabbed the Block Development Officer (BDO) of Bisra block in Sundergarh district while accepting a bribe of Rs 1lakh. The accused has been identified as Prasant Kumar Rout.
According to sources, Rout had demanded the amount from a project officer of Jhiripani panchayat of the district for clearing funds worth Rs 11 lakh.
Refuting the charges levelled against him, Rout said “I had not demanded the bribe and there is no scope of accepting it. I don’t know why he gave me the money. As I was eating at that time and I said him to keep the money on the table and then the vigilance officials reached the spot.”
Meanwhile, simultaneous raids have been conducted by the anti-corruption officials at the BDO’s office in Bisra and his residence in Bhadrak and further probe into the incident is on.
“The BDO was caught red handed while receiving the bribe amount which he had kept in a drawer and the meney has been seized,” said Vigilance DSP, Rourkela, Dasharathi Sethi.
Reportedly, Rout was earlier charged with allegations of misappropriation of 584 quintals of PDS rice when he was posted as the BDO of Danagadi block in Jajpur district in 2012.