Bhubaneswar, Nov 2 The Odisha Vigilance Directorate on Monday arrested a land acquisition officer for allegedly demanding and accepting a Rs 5 lakh bribe from a landowner to release payment, officials said.
Ajay Kumar Garanaik, the special land acquisition officer appointed for the Sambalpur-Talcher doubling rail line project, was apprehended for demanding and receiving the bribe, a vigilance officer said.
Garanaik had demanded a bribe of Rs 5.10 lakh from the complainant to release Rs 84.62 lakh as compensation for land acquisition and to extend future favours in connection with compensation for land acquired for the third railway line project, he said.
The complainant had paid a Rs 2 lakh bribe to Garanaik a few days earlier. The officer had been demanding the remaining Rs 3.10 lakh.
Garanaik also allegedly threatened to create problems for the complainant during future land acquisition for the third railway line project if he did not pay the remaining bribe amount, the official said.
Aggrieved by the land acquisition officer’s bribe demand, the complainant approached the vigilance authorities. Garanaik was caught while accepting the remaining bribe amount of Rs 3.10 lakh from the complainant, he added.
Later, simultaneous searches were launched at three locations linked to Garanaik to detect assets allegedly accumulated through illicit means, he said.
(PTI News)
