The Odisha Vigilance on Thursday apprehended Chandrajit Parija, a Programmer at the Office of the District Education Officer-cum-District Project Coordinator (DEO-DPC) under Samagra Siksha Abhiyan (SSA) in Jagatsinghpur, while he was accepting a bribe of Rs 30,000.
According to anti-corruption officials, the accused official allegedly demanded the illegal gratification to facilitate the clearance of pending bills for a contractor (executant). The complainant had successfully installed digital blackboards in various schools across the Jagatsinghpur district as per his assigned work order.
As a designated member of the procurement and technical committee, Parija was responsible for inspecting the installation work and issuing the mandatory clearance certificate required for the release of payments. However, despite repeated requests from the complainant, the programmer deliberately delayed inspecting the completed project. Instead, he allegedly conditioned the release of pending funds on the payment of a Rs 30,000 bribe.
Frustrated by the persistent harassment and extortion, the complainant approached the Odisha Vigilance authorities and filed a formal report. Acting swiftly on the complaint, a specialised team laid a trap on Thursday and successfully nabbed Parija red-handed while he was accepting the tainted money.
The entire bribe amount of Rs 30,000 was recovered from his exclusive possession and seized on the spot. Following the successful trap, simultaneous searches from a Disproportionate Assets (DA) angle are currently underway at three different locations linked to the accused official.
