Bhubaneswar: Odisha Vigilance on Monday arrested a school headmaster in Kendrapara district for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 5,000 from a staff member to facilitate the release of his pending salary arrears.

The accused has been identified as Raghunath Das, Headmaster of a high school at Chadeiguan near Mahakalpada.

According to Vigilance officials, the complainant, a newly appointed staff member of the school, had not received his salary since joining in August 2025. He had reportedly approached the headmaster several times, requesting him to submit the attendance sheet to the Drawing and Disbursing Officer (DDO) in the office of the District Education Officer (DEO), Kendrapara, for processing his salary.

However, the headmaster allegedly demanded Rs 5,000 as a bribe to facilitate the drawal of the arrear salary. Unable to bear the harassment, the staffer approached Odisha Vigilance and lodged a complaint.

Acting on the complaint, a Vigilance team laid a trap and apprehended Das while he was allegedly accepting the bribe amount from the complainant. The entire tainted money was recovered from his possession and seized.

Following the arrest, Vigilance officials launched simultaneous searches at two locations linked to the accused to investigate possible disproportionate assets.

In connection with the case, Cuttack Vigilance Police Station Case No. 20/2026 has been registered under Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act, 2018. Further investigation is underway.