Rourkela, Aug. 5: Two employees of the Regional Transport Office (RTO), Rourkela, were apprehended by Odisha Vigilance on Wednesday for allegedly demanding and accepting a bribe of ₹26,000 to facilitate the issuance of Fresh Registration Certificates (FRCs) for two auctioned trucks.

The accused have been identified as Niranjan Sandha, Dealing Clerk-cum-Night Watcher, and Dharmendra Kumar Behera, IT Executive, both posted at the RTO office in Rourkela.

According to Odisha Vigilance, the complainant had recently purchased two trucks through an auction conducted by IndusInd Bank after the previous owner defaulted on loan repayments. As per the Transport Department's regulations, the new owner applied for Fresh Registration Certificates (FRCs) for both vehicles at the RTO office.

However, despite repeated requests, the applications were allegedly not processed by the dealing clerk. Vigilance officials said Niranjan Sandha demanded a bribe of ₹26,000—₹13,000 for each truck—to process the applications.

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Unwilling to pay the illegal gratification, the vehicle owner approached Odisha Vigilance and lodged a complaint. Acting on the complaint, Vigilance officials laid a trap and allegedly caught Sandha and his associate, Dharmendra Kumar Behera, while accepting the bribe.

The entire tainted amount of ₹26,000 was recovered from the accused and seized in the presence of witnesses.

Following the successful trap operation, Odisha Vigilance launched simultaneous searches at three locations associated with Niranjan Sandha to investigate possible disproportionate assets.

A case has been registered under Rourkela Vigilance P.S. Case No. 07 dated August 5, 2026, under Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act, 2018.