Nayagarh: Odisha Vigilance on Sunday apprehended a Junior Engineer of the Bhapur Rural Works Section in Nayagarh district along with his associate for allegedly demanding and accepting a bribe of Rs 1.36 lakh from a contractor to clear pending bills and facilitate refund of security deposits.

The accused has been identified as Keshab Subudhi, Junior Engineer of Bhapur RW Section, while his associate, Ashutosh Baliarsingh, is a private individual allegedly engaged by the engineer to act as a supervisor.

Bribe allegedly sought for clearing MMSY bills and security deposit

According to Vigilance officials, the accused demanded the bribe from a contractor in connection with the clearance of bills related to construction and maintenance works carried out under the Mukhya Mantri Sadak Yojana (MMSY) during 2021-22 in the Khandapara area of Nayagarh district.

Officials said that after completion of the maintenance period, the Initial Security Deposit (ISD) and other security deposits are supposed to be refunded to the contractor as per government norms. However, the deposits can be forfeited if measurements of the maintenance works are not taken.

The contractor had reportedly been requesting the Junior Engineer for the past three to four months to take measurements and process the release of his security money. Allegedly, the engineer demanded Rs 1.36 lakh in exchange for completing the process.

Unable to bear the alleged harassment, the contractor approached Odisha Vigilance authorities and lodged a complaint.

Acting on the complaint, Vigilance officials laid a trap on Saturday after the accused engineer allegedly called the contractor to his official quarters at Khandapara and instructed him to hand over the bribe amount to his associate Ashutosh Baliarsingh.

A Vigilance team then caught both accused red-handed while accepting the bribe amount. The entire tainted cash of Rs 1.36 lakh was recovered from their possession and seized.

Following the trap, simultaneous searches are being carried out at two locations linked to the Junior Engineer to investigate possible disproportionate assets.

In this connection, Odisha Vigilance has registered Bhubaneswar Vigilance Police Station Case No. 07 dated May 16, 2026 under Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act, 2018.

Further investigation into the case is underway.