BHUBANESWAR: The state vigilance directorate on Wednesday arrested a police officer, Malaya Kishore Nayak, for allegedly accepting Rs 30,000 bribe from a stone quarry owner in Dhenkanal district to allow him to do business smoothly. Nayak, who is the sub-divisional police officer (SDPO) of Hindol, was caught red-handed while accepting the bribe on a desolate stretch of a road in the district.
The anti-corruption sleuths were also looking for his wife, Rita Mohapatra, who allegedly managed to escape with a briefcase and another carry bag from his quarters before their arrival.
“When we arrested the SDPO, the news reached his home. As our officers were about to reach his home, his wife fled on a two-wheeler with the briefcase and the bag. The locked house is being searched in the presence of an executive magistrate. Efforts are on to trace her,” a senior vigilance officer said.
The sleuths have come to know that Nayak often collected bribes from people through PhonePe, Google Pay and ATM deposits to evade vigilance glare. He used the phone numbers and accounts of his acquaintances to receive the bribes. A team of officers is examining the financial transactions and collecting digital evidence against Nayak.
Sources said Nayak had been insisting that the stone quarry owner pay him the bribe in his benami account through PhonePe or Google Pay. He agreed to collect the cash from the businessman on Tuesday evening and asked him to meet him at a desolate place. The police officer reached his home before dusk. The businessman, however, asked him to collect the cash on Wednesday and shared the location with the vigilance.
“We conducted searches on the premises of Nayak in Bhubaneswar, Puri, Angul, Dhenkanal and Sambalpur districts. A two-storey building was found in his name at Amlapada in Angul, another two-storey house at Dhanupalli in Sambalpur, a costly flat at Tata Ariana in Bhubaneswar and another flat in Puri,” the officer said.
