Angul, Jan 1: Angul Vigilance officials on Wednesday conducted a raid at the Chhendipada Tahasil and caught government staff red-handed while allegedly accepting a bribe for mutation work. The action was taken against Chhendipada Additional Tahasildar Prakash Chandra Nayak and a peon, Kahna Sahu, in connection with a demand of ₹9,000.

According to sources, Om Prakash Agrawal of the Angul area had three mutation cases pending at the Chhendipada Tahasil. It is alleged that Additional Tahasildar Nayak demanded ₹9,000 to process the mutations. Following the demand, Agrawal’s lawyer approached the Angul Vigilance Department and lodged a complaint.

Acting on the complaint, a trap was laid on Wednesday. When the lawyer went to the tahasil office to hand over the bribe amount, the Additional Tahasildar allegedly instructed him to give the money to peon Kahna Sahu. As Sahu was accepting the cash, a vigilance team led by Additional Superintendent of Police Swastik Panda raided the office and recovered ₹9,000.

The vigilance team detained both the Additional Tahasildar and the peon and carried out searches at the tahasil office chamber and the official residential quarters. The raid was conducted by a team comprising the Vigilance DSP, inspectors and around ten personnel.