In a swift anti-corruption operation, Odisha Vigilance on Thursday (30 July 2026) caught two employees of Brahmagiri Tahasil in Puri district — Junior Clerk (Record Keeper) Narendra Kumar Sahoo and Driver Jitendra Kumar Sahoo — while they were accepting a bribe of ₹20,000 for facilitating plot demarcation.
The complainant had applied online on 3 April 2026 for demarcation of his plot under the rules of the Revenue & Disaster Management Department. Instead of processing the request, Record Keeper Narendra Kumar Sahoo first extracted ₹8,000 from the applicant a few days earlier and then demanded an additional ₹20,000 to issue and serve the necessary notices.
Fed up with the repeated demands, the applicant approached Odisha Vigilance. A team laid a trap and apprehended both accused inside the Record Keeper’s office room as they accepted the tainted money. The entire ₹20,000 was recovered and seized on the spot.
This is not the first time Narendra Kumar Sahoo has faced the heat. He was earlier arrested in a separate trap case for accepting ₹18,000 as bribe for converting agricultural land into homestead land.
Following the successful trap, simultaneous searches are underway at two locations linked to Narendra Kumar Sahoo from the disproportionate assets angle.
Bhubaneswar Vigilance Police Station Case No. 17 dated 29 July 2026 has been registered under Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act, 2018. Investigation against both accused is in progress.
The latest catch once again highlights Odisha Vigilance’s zero-tolerance approach towards corruption in land-related services — a sector where ordinary citizens often face harassment for routine work.
