Bhubaneswar: The Odisha Vigilance on Wednesday arrested a senior tax official after he was caught red-handed while accepting a bribe from a businessman for waiving the penalty imposed on him for non-payment of professional tax for three financial years. The Odisha Vigilance said Umakant Mahakur was apprehended by the anti-corruption sleuths on October 29 for accepting a bribe of Rs 12,000 from a businessman.

It further said the bribe was demanded by Mahakur to waive off the penalty imposed on the complainant (businessman) for non-payment of professional tax for three financial years. The complainant had failed to pay the professional tax amounting to Rs 7,500 (@ Rs 2,500 per year). For the non-payment, he was served a notice by the accused officer to pay Rs 23,600, including tax, fine, and interest.

“Upon receiving the notice, the complainant met Mahakur and requested him to accept only the tax amount. However, the accused officer refused to do so and instead demanded a bribe of Rs 12,000 to waive the fine and interest. Unwilling to pay the bribe, the complainant reported the matter to the Vigilance authorities. Acting on the complaint, a trap was laid on October 29 by the Odisha Vigilance team,” informed the Vigilance department.

During the trap, the accused officer, Mahakur, was caught red-handed in his office chamber while accepting the bribe money from the complainant. The entire bribe amount was recovered and seized from his possession in the presence of witnesses.

Following the trap, the Odisha Vigilance carried out simultaneous searches at his government quarters at Subarnapur, his house at Gandhinagar Pada in Bolangir, and his office chamber at Titlagarh.

The accused officer has been arrested and is scheduled to be forwarded to court on Thursday. In this connection, a case was registered on October 28 under Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act, 2018.