Odisha Vigilance on Wednesday arrested a Revenue Inspector (RI) in Rayagada district for allegedly accepting a bribe of ₹25,000 in connection with a land mutation case.
The accused, Susanta Mallick, is the Revenue Inspector of the Sirijhuli Circle under Gunupur Tahasil. Vigilance officials caught him red-handed while he was accepting the bribe in his office.
According to Vigilance, the complainant had applied online for mutation of ancestral land and issuance of the Record of Rights (ROR) and land patta after paying the required government fees. Despite this, the RI is said to have postponed the procedure without a good explanation.
Officials said Mallick later demanded ₹25,000 to submit a favourable enquiry report and speed up the file. After receiving the complaint, Vigilance officers laid a trap and caught him while taking the money.
The entire bribe amount was recovered and seized from his possession.
Following the arrest, Vigilance launched simultaneous searches at three locations linked to the accused to investigate possible disproportionate assets.
A case has been registered at the Koraput Vigilance Police Station under Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act, 2018. Further investigation is underway.