Sonepur: Vigilance sleuths caught tehsildar of Tarabha in Subarnapur district red-handed while accepting bribe Monday. He was produced at vigilance court in Bolangir Tuesday.
The arrested tehsildar is Subrat Kumar Behera who was also registrar in-charge.
One Kanhu Charan Dash of Ghatkaintara village under Tarabha police limits had sold his land in Antarda mouza to Rabindra Mishra, a resident of Tulunda. To get his land registered, Dash met the tehsildar who demanded Rs20,000 as bribe to get his work done. In this regard, Dash lodged a complaint with the vigilance department. Subsequently, a trap was laid out.
As per the plan, Dash gave Behera chemically-laced 40 notes of Rs 500 denomination at his government quarter at about 8.15 pm Monday. The vigilance officials waiting there arrested him and recovered the notes from his possession. The team comprised Sambalpur DSP Dasharathi Sethi, Sonepur DSP in-charge Kadambini Samal, inspectors Sadananda Pani and Tushar Mohapatra.
Sambalpur vigilance department has registered a case (Case No-29/20). Meanwhile, simultaneous raids were conducted at his residence in Bhubaneswar and the registrar office at Tarabha.
Behera had joined as Tarabha tehsildar just a few months ago.
PNN