Bargarh, May 6: Vigilance officials on Wednesday apprehended a woman District Resource Person (DRP) for allegedly taking bribe of Rs 30,000 from a beneficiary covered under the Pradhan Mantri Formalization of Micro Food Processing Enterprises (PMFME) in Bargarh district.
According to Vigilance sleuths, the accused DRP identified as Rakshi Meher has been apprehended by the anti-graft sleuths while demanding and taking bribe in shape of cash deposit in her bank account from a beneficiary of the PMFME scheme for facilitating release of 35% subsidy of released loan amount of Rs 8,64,000 in favour of the beneficiary.
The loan amount of Rs 8,64,000 was released in favour of the beneficiary/complainant on March 15, 2026 towards a Bakery Unit.
Following the release of the loan amount, the beneficiary had been requesting accused to process the file for release of subsidy amount of Rs 3,02,400. Instead of releasing the subsidy amount, the accused woman officer demanded bribe Rs 30,000 from the beneficiary and asked him to deposit the bribe amount in her bank account.
The accused DRP too sent her bank account number by SMS to beneficiary's mobile number.
“The beneficiary approached the vigilance authorities narrating his harassment. Following this, today, a team of Odisha Vigilance nabbed Ms. Meher while beneficiary depositing the bribe amount Rs 30,000/- in bank account of Ms. Meher as per her direction. The Mobile phone of Ms. Meher along with receipt of bank message confirming deposit of Rs.30,000 has been seized,” said a Vigilance communique.
Following the trap, simultaneous searches were underway at three locations linked to Meher to probe possible disproportionate assets.
