Hans News Service Bhubaneswar

Continuingits crackdown on corrupt government officials, Odisha Vigilance sleuths on Thursday unearthed suspected ill gotten cash amounting to Rs 5 lakh after intercepting the vehicle of the Tahasildar cum Sub Registrar of Lathikata in Sundargarh district.

Acting on reliable information about the accused, Muralidhar Urmal, Tahasildar cum Sub Registrar of Lathikata, collecting large sums of cash from various sources, a Vigilance department team closely monitored his movements and activities.

On Thursday, a Vigilance team intercepted Urmal near Rajabasa Chhak in Lathikata while he was travelling in a hired official Scorpio vehicle from his office to his residence in Rourkela.

“During the interception, cash amounting to Rs 5 lakh was found in Urmal’s possession, for which he could not provide a satisfactory explanation. The entire amount, along with the Scorpio vehicle, has been seized,” Vigilance officials said.

Following the interception, officials launched simultaneous searches at three locations, including Urmal’s residential building in Rourkela, his ancestral house at Karamdihi under Sundargarh Sadar police limits, and his office chamber at the Lathikata Tahasil office in Sundargarh district. Police detained the accused for further interrogation.

In a separate case, Vigilance on Thursday apprehended Manoj Ranjan Nayak, Block Programme Manager (NHM) of Kujang Community Health Centre (CHC) in Jagatsinghpur district, for demanding and accepting a bribe of Rs 20,000 from a health staffer (Ashakarmi) working under the CHC by threatening to prepone her retirement based on her age as per Aadhaar card.

Based on the date of birth in her School Leaving Certificate (17.05.1966) submitted during her appointment, the ASHA worker had two more years of service left. However, citing a discrepancy in an Aadhaar card issued later, Nayak allegedly threatened to terminate her services if she failed to pay the bribe.

Finding no other alternative, the complainant approached Vigilance authorities to report the harassment.

Acting on the complaint, a Vigilance team laid a trap on Thursday and caught Nayak red handed while accepting a bribe of Rs 20,000 from the complainant.

The team recovered and seized the entire tainted money from his possession. Following the trap, simultaneous searches were launched at Nayak’s residential house at Gopalpur (Rajnagarpatna) under Sadar police limits in Cuttack district and his office room at Kujang CHC in Jagatsinghpur district. The accused has been arrested.