Koraput, Aug 6:  Odisha Vigilance on Tuesday arrested Sambit Tripathy, a Junior Clerk at the Block Education Officer (BEO) office in Nandapur, Koraput district, while he was accepting a bribe of ₹15,000.

According to an official statement from Odisha Vigilance, the bribe was the first instalment of a total ₹30,000 allegedly demanded by Tripathy to process the pension and arrear benefits of a deceased government school teacher.

The teacher, who passed away on 27 October 2019 while serving as a Primary School Teacher, had his revised pension and gratuity sanctioned on 11 June 2025. However, his widow—an elderly woman living on a modest family pension—was subjected to undue delays as Tripathy allegedly withheld the file and demanded a bribe to release the benefits.

Acting on a complaint lodged by the widow, Vigilance officials laid a trap and caught Tripathy red-handed while accepting the bribe. The tainted sum of ₹15,000 was recovered from his possession and seized as material evidence.

Following the arrest, searches were launched at two different locations linked to Tripathy to investigate possible disproportionate assets.

A case has been registered against him under Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act, 2018, at the Koraput Vigilance Division, and further investigation is currently underway.

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