Keonjhar: Vigilance sleuths Friday nabbed the medical superintendent of Sainkul Community Health Center (CHC) in this district on charge of accepting Rs 20,800 bribe from a CHC official for appointing the latter’s sister as Yoga instructor in the health centre and clearing his pending salary. Vigilance sleuths arrested the accused identified as Dr Ranjeeb Kumar Rout, the medical superintendent of Sainkul CHC, after they caught him red-handed while accepting a bribe of Rs 20,800 from an official for the appointment of his sister as Yoga instructor as well as released his pending salary bill. This was confirmed by the Vigilance directorate in a press release issued Friday.
According to the press release, the accused doctor had withheld the salary of the complainant without any reason despite several requests. The accused doctor allegedly demanded a bribe to release the complainant’s pending salary as well as for the appointment of his sister as a temporary Yoga instructor in the CHC. Left with no option, the complainant reported the matter to Odisha Vigilance over the anticorruption agency’s toll-free number 1064. The vigilance directorate registered a case under Section-7 of the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act, 2018, laid a trap and caught the doctor red-handed while accepting a bribe. The entire bribe amount has been recovered from the possession of the accused doctor and seized.
As per the press release, search operations were simultaneously conducted at three locations to find out the possession of disproportionate assets. Sarpanch arrested In a separate incident, Dinesh Rout, the sarpanch of Brundabahal panchayat under Golamunda block in Kalahandi district, was arrested by Vigilance sleuths following an allegation of carrying money collected through unethical means. Rout was caught carrying unaccounted cash worth Rs 5.4 lakh by the Vigilance while returning home from Golamunda block in a vehicle. Vigilance sleuths seized his vehicle and took him to Nabarangpur for further questioning. Meanwhile, two other teams carried out raids at his house and another location. It is suspected that the amount was a bribe collected by Rout as PC from the contractors executing various developmental projects in the panchayat area.