Kendrapara: On charges of demanding and accepting a bribe to provide a favourable land conversion report, an Assistant Revenue Inspector (ARI) in Kendrapara district was apprehended today by Odisha Vigilance officials.

According to Vigilance sources, Abhimanyu Behera, ARI of the Nikirei RI Circle, was caught red-handed in his office while taking a bribe of ₹12,000 from a landowner in exchange for furnishing a positive verification report.

The landowner had applied online on October 31, 2025, to convert his agricultural land into homestead land before the Tahsildar of Derabish. After preliminary verification, he was summoned to appear before the ARI-cum-In-Charge RI of Nikirei for an enquiry.

During the meeting, Behera allegedly demanded ₹15,000 for issuing a favourable report. When the landowner expressed his inability to pay the full amount, the ARI reduced the demand to ₹12,000 but continued to insist on the bribe as a condition for clearing the file.

Left with no alternative, the landowner approached the Vigilance Department, which subsequently laid a trap.
Today, a team of Odisha Vigilance officials apprehended Behera while he was accepting the reduced bribe amount of ₹12,000. The entire bribe money was recovered from his possession and seized as evidence.

Following the arrest, simultaneous searches were conducted at two locations linked to Behera to investigate possible possession of assets disproportionate to his known sources of income.

The Cuttack Vigilance Police Station has registered Case No. 33/2024 under Section 7 of the PC (Amendment) Act, 2018. Further investigation is underway.