Sambalpur, Mar11: Odisha Vigilance on Monday apprehended a Forest Rights assistant in odisha' s Sambalpur district for demanding and accepting bribe from a complainant.
The accused who has been identified as Nighat Parbeen alias Roza, Forest Rights Assistant (FRA) of the Office of Sub-Collector, Kuchinda, was caught while demanding and accepting a bribe amount of Rs 8000 as second instalment of the overall demand of Rs 23,000.from a Complainant (a representative of beneficiaries under Forest Rights Act ), to process file for issuance of Individual Forest Rights (IFR) from a group of beneficiaries under Forest Rights Act.
Earlier, accused Nighat Parbeen alias Roza had taken Rs.15,000/- as 1st installment from the complainant and was demanding the balance bribe Rs.8,000 more to process their cases. As the poor beneficiaries were unable to meet the demand, the complainant narrated the harassment before Vigilance Authority.
The entire bribe money has been recovered and seized from the possession of accused.
Following the trap, simultaneous searches are going on at two locations of accused.
Investigation is in progress against accused.
