Bhubaneswar, January 5: Vigilance sleuths on Monday nabbed two engineers of the Odisha Lift Irrigation Corporation’s Udala Sub-Division in Mayurbhnaj district for reportedly demanding and accepting bribe of Rs 60,000 from a contractor to release his pending bills.

Officials of the anti-corruption wing caught Harekrushna Sing, Assistant Executive Engineer and Subrat Mohanty, Junior Engineer, Baripada and also the in-charge JE of Udala of Udala Sub-Division in Mayurbhanj district red handed while they were demanding and taking part instalment bribe of Rs 60,000 from the contractor for release of pending bills of works executed by him.

Out of the total bribe amount of Rs 60,000, Rs 32,000 was the share of the AEE while Rs 28,000 was the share of the JE.

According to the Vigilance, the contractor had completed projects worth Rs 25 lakh, however the AEE and JE had withheld bills of about Rs 5 lakh and had also not released the security deposit, demanding Rs 1.10 lakh bribe at a rate of 4.5% (1.5 % of AEE and 3% of JE).

Finding no alternatives, the contractor approached Vigilance authorities following which both AEE and JE were nabbed today while taking part instalment of the bribe amount.

The entire tainted bribe money Rs 60,000 has been recovered from the exclusive possession of the accused officials and seized.

Following the trap, simultaneous searches underway at two locations of the AEE and three locations of the JE from DA angle.

In this connection, Balasore Vigilance PS Case No 1/2026, U/s-7PC (Amendment) Act, 2018 has been registered against the accused duo.