Rourkela: Vigilance sleuths Thursday trapped and caught red-handed a senior assistant working at the ESI Dispensary at Jail Road here for demanding and accepting a bribe of Rs 10,000 from the complainant, an accident victim. Sources said the accused employee identified as Abhiram Sahu was apprehended by the state Vigilance directorate for allegedly demanding Rs 10,000 bribe from an accident victim for clearing his medical reimbursement claim under ESI Scheme. The complainant, being poor, had been repeatedly requesting Sahu to process his medical claim for a long time.
However, Sahu kept delaying and insisting on the payment of the said amount to get his work done. Given his financial status, the complainant was expressing his inability to arrange and pay the bribe amount. Finding no other option, the complainant informed the Vigilance authorities and narrated the harassment he was facing to get his claim cleared by Sahu. The Vigilance sleuths soon laid a trap and asked the complainant to work as per their direction.
As per the plan, the complainant paid the bribe to the ESI official and accordingly, he was caught red-handed Thursday while accepting the said amount. The entire bribe money has been recovered and seized from the possession of the accused Sahu. Following the successful trap, simultaneous searches are underway at two different locations linked to Sahu to unearth disproportionate assets (DA), if any. In this connection, a case has been registered by Rourkela Vigilance under PS Case No.04 dated 28.02.2024, U/s 7 of the PC (Amendment) Act, 2018. A detailed probe against accused Sahu is underway, Vigilance sources said