Police constable arrested in Odisha for accepting Rs 6 lakh bribe

A team of Odisha Vigilance sleuths arrested Police constable Harish Chandra Sahu after seizing Rs six lakh cash from his possession.

Phulbani (Odisha), Nov 2 (PTI) Anti-corruption vigilance sleuths nabbed a police constable in Boudh district while accepting a bribe of Rs 6 lakh, an official said on Thursday.

The constable identified as Harish Chandra Sahu was caught red-handed while receiving money from Ganja dealers, cultivators and traders to facilitate their ganja trade. Sahu was under the scanner of the vigilance before he was caught, said Hemant Mohanty the DSP, Vigilance, Phulbani.

On Wednesday afternoon, the team of Odisha Vigilance intercepted him near Baghiapada outpost under Boudh Town Police Station. During interception, a sum of Rs 6 lakh was recovered from Sahu, which he could not account for satisfactorily. The entire cash has been seized, the official said.

Soon after the interception, simultaneous searches were conducted at Sahu’s government residential quarter at Balasinga, in Boudh district, his house in native village Deoladuguri, and the house of a relative in Panchubhuti, in Ganjam district.

A case has been registered under different sections of the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act, 2018.

Sahu had received money from ganja growers of Baghiapada for allegedly showing favour to the ganja planters and not to damage their plants during the campaign to destroy cannabis plants, Mohanty said.