Jajpur: Odisha Vigilance officials on Friday arrested a Junior Revenue Assistant (JRA) of the Sub-Collector's office in Jajpur while allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 40,000 from an applicant for processing permission to purchase land owned by a Scheduled Caste person.

The accused has been identified as Prasanna Kumar Sahani, JRA at the Sub-Collector's office, Jajpur.

According to Odisha Vigilance, the complainant had applied on November 29, 2025, seeking permission from the competent authority to purchase 16 decimals of land from an SC-category landowner in favour of his mother. Such permission is required under government rules for the purchase of land from SC/ST landowners.

Sahani had been delaying the processing of the application and demanded Rs 48,000 from the applicant. After the applicant expressed his inability to pay the amount, Sahani reduced the demand to Rs 40,000.

The applicant subsequently approached the Odisha Vigilance authorities and lodged a complaint.

Based on the complaint, Vigilance officials laid a trap, and Sahani was caught while accepting Rs 40,000 from the complainant in his office room. The entire bribe amount was recovered from his possession and seized, the agency said.

Simultaneous searches were launched at two locations linked to Sahani as part of a disproportionate assets investigation.

A case has been registered against Sahani at the Cuttack Vigilance Police Station under Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act, 2018. Further investigation is underway.