Odisha Vigilance re-arrests Tehsildar a day after release from jail in bribery case

Bhubaneswar, Oct 10 (IANS) A day after his release on bail in a trap case, a senior Odisha Administrative Service (OAS) officer was arrested again on Friday by the Odisha Vigilance on charges of possessing assets disproportionate to his known sources of income by around 190 per cent.

The accused officer, identified as Siba Mallick, is currently posted as Tahsildar at Mahakalpada in Kendrapara district.

Mallik was earlier arrested on September 24 by the anti-corruption sleuths after he was caught red-handed while receiving a bribe of Rs 20,000 from a complainant for facilitating the eviction of an illegal structure erected over government land obstructing the passage to his (complainant's) house.

Following his arrest, different teams of Odisha Vigilance carried out simultaneous searches at different locations connected to Mallick in connection with the Disproportionate Assets angle.

The sleuth, after a thorough enquiry and evaluation, found Mallik in possession of approximately 190 per cent of his known sources of income, including four buildings, seven valuable plots, deposits worth Rs 18 lakhs, and Rs 1.55 lakh in cash, which he failed to explain satisfactorily.

He was arrested for accumulating properties disproportionate to his known and legal sources of income.

Meanwhile, in another trap case, two staffers posted at Jaleswar Municipality in Balasore were apprehended by vigilance sleuths while accepting a bribe of Rs 10,000 from a contractor for clearing his pending bill for works executed under the IEC (Information, Education, and Communication) activity in the locality.

The accused officials were identified as Braja Gopal Ghose Mohapatra, Dealing Assistant. Sanitation-cum-MIS Co-ordinator and Ratikanta Patra, Sanitation expert. After completing the work, the complainant had been requesting accused dealing assistant Mohapatra clear the pending bill for about one and a half months.

However, Mohapatra and sanitation expert Patra allegedly demanded a bribe of Rs 10,000 to process the file, prompting the complainant to report the matter to the Vigilance authorities.

--IANS

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