Bhubaneswar: A Junior Engineer was caught while accepting a bribe of Rs 8,000 from a contractor for clearing pending bills in Bargarh district on Tuesday, a Vigilance official said. Junior Engineer Susmita Oram had joined the government service under the District Rural Development Agency (DRDA), Bargarh, at Gaisilet block in January 2024. This was her first posting, the officer said.

The JE has been apprehended by the Odisha Vigilance official while demanding and taking a bribe of Rs 8,000 from the contractor (complainant) as the last instalment of her overall demand of bribe of Rs 32,000 for measurement and clearing pending bill in connection with the road improvement work under MGNREGA, he said.

The estimated cost of the work is Rs 9.50 lakh, out of which, bills worth Rs 3.15 lakh had been paid earlier, he said. The official further said the JE was demanding a bribe of 10 per cent of the paid bill amount to clear pending bills. Out of the total demanded amount Rs 32,000, she had earlier taken Rs 24,000 a few days back and was demanding the remaining amount of Rs 8,000 to clear the rest bill. The entire bribe money has been recovered from the possession of the JE and seized, he said. Following the trap, simultaneous searches were conducted at two locations linked to the JE.

A case has been registered at Sambalpur Vigilance police station under the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act, 2018 and further investigation is in progress, Vigilance sources said.