Bhubaneswar: The anti-corruption vigilance sleuths Saturday arrested two women officers on charge of corruption and possessing properties disproportionate to their known sources of income.
The two women officers – Neena Beura, In-charge Superintendent of Excise, Rayagada, and Manasi Jena, Inspector of Police, Vigilance, Sambalpur Division. This apart, one private person was also arrested for assisting Jena in the corruption, the official said.
Director, Odisha Vigilance Y K Jethwa said: “Odisha Vigilance is committed to take strong actions against corrupt practices of government functionaries, including its own”.
Stating that intelligence gathering has been intensified and search and interception teams are kept in readiness round the clock in the state for acting on verified inputs, Jethwa said “an internal vigilance unit has been activated under the Cell Division at Vigilance Directorate which exclusively keeps a watch on the activities of Vigilance Officials. With these steps we hope to continue strong measures against corruption.”
On the arrest of Neena Beura, the official said she was caught with bribe money received as illegal gratification from IMFL and country liquor vendors. The officers of Odisha Vigilance were keeping a close watch over the movement and activities of Beura, he said.
Accordingly, on late Friday night, officers of Odisha Vigilance intercepted her near Totapada chhak, in Khurdha district while she was returning from Rayagada to Bhubaneswar in a private vehicle.
During interception, suspected ill-gotten cash of Rs 6,29,000 was found in the possession of Beura, which she could not account for satisfactorily.
The cash has been recovered from Beura and seized. Following interception, search is continuing at various locations of Beura in Bhubaneswar, Rayagada and Cuttack district.
In this connection, Bhubaneswar Vigilance has registered a case under provisions of the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act, 2018 against Neena Beura and she was arrested on Saturday.
In another Vigilance operation carried out by the Internal Vigilance Unit of Cell Division, Vigilance Directorate, on Friday Manasi Jena, Inspector of Police, Vigilance, Sambalpur Division, was trapped for demanding and accepting a bribe of Rs 10 lakh through her associate (private person) named Mukesh Sahoo of Bargarh from a complainant (Government official) for closing a petition against the complainant, which Jena was enquiring into.
In this connection, a case has been registered against Jena and Sahoo. They were arrested Saturday.
PTI