Bhubaneswar: The Vigilance sleuths today arrested an Additional Tahsildar in Odisha’s Ganjam district on charges of taking bribe from the owner of a sand-laden tractor.

The accused has been identified as Kabiraj Sethi, the Additional Tahsildar of Belguntha in Ganjam.

Sethi had seized the sand-laden tractor on February 5. However, he did not mention this on the record. He had allegedly sought bribe from the owner of the sand-laden tractor to release the vehicle even though the latter produced the relevant documents.

The Additional Tahsildar today released the sand-laden tractor after collecting Rs 30,000 as penalties and Rs 10,000 as bribe from the vehicle owner, said the Odisha Vigilance.  

Subsequently, the Vigilance officials arrested the Additional Tahsildar and seized the entire bribe amount from his possession.

Following the arrest, simultaneous searches are going on at two locations linked to Sethi to trace any disproportionate assets (DA) amassed by him.

The Vigilance Police Station at Berhampur registered a case in this regard under Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act, 2018.