Bhubaneswar, October 13: Vigilance sleuths arrested a Revenue Inspector for taking bribe of Rs 3,000 in Saintala of Balangir district on Tuesday.

The accused was identified as Alan Behera, RI of Saintala Revenue Circle. He was apprehended by the anti-corruption body officials while demanding and taking bribe of Rs 3000 from a man to process the file and to submit field enquiry report to the competent authority for conversion of his agricultural land to homestead land in a mutation case.

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It was alleged that the applicant had applied for conversion of his agricultural land to homestead land in a mutation case through online mode on September 7 as per the norms of the Revenue and Disaster Management Department. Despite several requests made by the applicant, accused Behera was not processing the application. Instead, he demanded bribe of Rs 6,000 to process the application. When the applicant expressed his inability to give Rs 6,000, the accused reduced the bribe amount to Rs 3,000.

Upset over such illegal demand, the applicant lodged a complaint with Vigilance authorities. Accordingly, a trap was laid and the accused RI was caught red handed while taking bribe of Rs 3,000 from the complainant. The entire bribe money Rs 3,000 has been recovered from the possession of accused Behera and seized.

Following the trap, simultaneous searches underway on two locations linked to Behera to investigate possible possession of disproportionate assets.

A case was also lodged at the Sambalpur Vigilance Division against the accused Revenue Inspector U/s P. C (Amendment) Act.