Sambalpur, Sept 17: Odisha Vigilance sleuths on Wednesday arrested two staff members of the Block Education Office (BEO) in Rengali locality of Sambalpur district for allegedly demanding and accepting a bribe of Rs. 7,000.

The aforementioned amount is reportedly the first installment of a total demand of Rs. 25,000.

The arrested officials have been identified as Junior Assistant Dusmanta Kumar Sahu and Peon Gopabandhu Sahu. They were caught red-handed while accepting the bribe.

According to sources, the bribe was demanded for the processing of the complainant's pending pay, arrears, and other dues. The complainant, an official from the office, reported the matter to the Vigilance authorities after Dusmanta reportedly demanded a bribe of Rs. 25,000—Rs. 7,000 for processing the complainant’s pay and Rs. 18,000 for his arrears.

When the complainant raised concerns about the excessive demand, Dusmanta allegedly agreed to accept the first installment of Rs. 7,000, with the remainder of the bribe to be paid later.

When the complainant raised concerns about the excessive demand, Sri Dusmanta Kumar Sahu allegedly agreed to accept the first installment of Rs. 7,000, with the remainder of the bribe to be paid later.

Left out with no other option, the complainant reported the matter to Odisha Vigilance.

Acting swiftly on the complaint, a Vigilance team laid a trap and nabbed Dusmanta and Gopabandhu red-handed at the office premises today.

The tainted bribe money of Rs. 7,000 was recovered and seized from their possession.

Following the arrest, the Vigilance officials launched simultaneous searches at three locations linked to Dusmanta and one location associated with Gopabandhu, as part of the investigation into possible disproportionate assets (DA) under the Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act.

Further updates and details of the investigation are awaited.