IIC held for graft brings allegations against Central Range IG

Nayagarh: The Inspector In-Charge (IIC) of Khandpara police station, who was arrested for taking bribe of Rs 10,000, said he has been framed and alleged that Central Range IG R.P. Koche had telephoned and exerted influence in the case in which he was caught taking the bribe.

Notably, Kandpara IIC Rajendra Maldal was caught by the Vigilance department while taking bribe of Rs 10,000 in a cheque bounce case. According to Mandal, one Patitapaban Sahoo had filed a case against another person, who took Rs 3 lakh from him. The borrower was also arrested by the Kandpara police. Later on, Patitapaban got back Rs 2 lakh from the accused. However, he kept pressurizing the accused to return the rest of the money. As per Mandal, Patitapaban was using IG R.P. Koche’s name to extract money from the accused. “Even IG R.P. Koche had also called the SDPO and me regarding the case,” Mandal alleged.

Patitapaban Sahoo said, “I filed a case with the police, however, I was told that the date has passed and asked to pay Rs 10,000. I paid Rs 10,000 to the IIC at his official residence.”

Interestingly, the string of events as described by Mandal has raised questions on whether Patitaban had any links with R.P. Koche and whether the central range IG had exerted his influence on the case.

On the other hand, Koche has refuted the allegation saying, “I am not aware of this particular incident. However, a lot of people come to us with their grievances and we ask the IICs to take action as per law.”

Meanwhile, Vigilance SP Basant Kumar Panigrahi commenting on the case said “We will take action based on the allegations whosoever he may be.”