Jagatsinghpur, June 20: In a major anti-corruption crackdown, Odisha Vigilance on Friday arrested a Junior Engineer of the General Electrical Division (GED) under the Works and Housing Department, Jagatsinghpur, for allegedly accepting a bribe from a contractor.

The accused, identified as Soma Das, was caught red-handed while allegedly receiving Rs 15,000 from a contractor for preparing an estimate for a street-light project in Rohia Panchayat under Naugaon block.

According to Vigilance sources, Soma Das had demanded the bribe from the contractor in exchange for facilitating the preparation of the estimate. Following the demand, the contractor lodged a complaint with the Vigilance Department.

Acting on the complaint, Vigilance officials laid a trap and apprehended the engineer while she was allegedly accepting the bribe inside her office chamber on Friday evening.

Following the arrest, Vigilance teams launched simultaneous searches at multiple locations linked to the accused, including her rented residence at CDA Sector-II in Cuttack, her husband’s residence in Chhattisgarh, her parental home in Talcher, and her office premises in Jagatsinghpur.

Further investigation is underway to ascertain whether the accused possesses assets disproportionate to her known sources of income, officials said.