Kendujhar, Aug 30: The Odisha Vigilance today apprehended Akash Bisoi, District Labour Officer (DLO) of Kendujhar while allegedly demanding and accepting a bribe of ₹20,000 from an electrical contractor for issuing a labour licence in favour of the contractor’s agency.

According to the Vigilance authorities, the contractor had been assigned electrical installation work by TPNODL and was required to obtain a labour licence to engage workers for execution of the project.

Accordingly, the contractor submitted an online application for issuance of the licence on August 14, following the prescribed procedure of the Labour & ESI Department, Government of Odisha.

When the contractor subsequently enquired about the status of his licence on August 16, Bisoi allegedly demanded ₹20,000 for processing and granting the labour licence. The contractor then approached the Odisha Vigilance authorities and lodged a complaint, alleging harassment and demand of illegal gratification by the District Labour Officer.

Acting on the complaint, a Vigilance team laid a trap on Sunday. Bisoi was allegedly caught red-handed while accepting ₹20,000 from the complainant. The entire tainted bribe amount was recovered from his possession and seized by the Vigilance officials.

Following the trap, simultaneous searches were launched at two locations linked to Bisoi as part of a disproportionate-assets (DA) angle investigation.

A case has been registered under Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act, 2018.