Rayagada: Odisha Vigilance has arrested a senior Rural Works Department official in Rayagada district for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 2 lakh from a contractor in exchange for clearing pending bills and issuing a work experience certificate required for participation in a tender process. Pattnaik was scheduled to retire from service on June 30.

The accused, Prasanna Kumar Pattnaik, Executive Engineer of Rural Works Division-I (RWD-I), Rayagada, was apprehended late on June 23 while accepting the bribe from the contractor.

According to Vigilance officials, the contractor had been requesting Pattnaik to issue a work experience certificate that would enable him to participate in fresh tenders. The official demanded Rs 2.5 lakh as a bribe for clearing bills worth around Rs 50 lakh and issuing the certificate.

When the contractor expressed his inability to pay the amount, the accused agreed to reduce the demand to Rs 2 lakh after negotiations. Unwilling to pay the bribe, the contractor approached Odisha Vigilance and lodged a complaint.

Acting on the complaint, a Vigilance team laid a trap and caught Pattnaik red-handed while receiving the bribe amount. The entire tainted cash of Rs 2 lakh was recovered from his possession and seized.

Following the arrest, Vigilance officials conducted simultaneous searches at multiple locations linked to the accused, including his residence at Nandan Vihar in Bhubaneswar, his ancestral house in Nayagarh, his office chamber, and his government quarters in Rayagada.

During the searches, officials unearthed and seized an additional Rs 3.39 lakh in cash from his government quarters at Rayagada. With this, the total cash recovery in the case has risen to Rs 5.39 lakh.

A case has been registered against him under Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act, 2018, at Koraput Vigilance Police Station. Further investigation is underway to ascertain whether he was involved in similar corrupt practices in the past.

Odisha Vigilance officials said the probe is continuing and more details are expected to emerge during the course of the investigation.