Odisha Vigilance on Friday, 19 June arrested Soma Das, Junior Engineer (JE) of the General Electrical Division (GED), Jagatsinghpur district, for allegedly demanding and accepting a bribe of ₹15,000 to prepare an estimate for installing streetlights at a Gram Panchayat in the district. The entire bribe amount was recovered from her possession in the presence of witnesses.

How the Bribe Demand Unfolded

According to Vigilance sources, the complainant — referred to as the executant — had submitted a letter from the Gram Panchayat authority to Das on 8 May, requesting her to prepare an estimate so that a work order could be issued in his favour. Despite repeated follow-ups, Das allegedly kept the estimate pending without any stated reason.

Das subsequently demanded ₹15,000 — equivalent to 1 per cent of the total estimated project cost of ₹15 lakh — as a precondition for processing the estimate. Finding no other recourse, the executant approached Odisha Vigilance, narrating the alleged harassment and seeking action against the JE.

Trap Laid, Engineer Caught Red-Handed

'Based on the complaint, a trap was laid on June 19, wherein the accused Das was nabbed by the team of Odisha Vigilance in her office room for demanding and accepting a bribe of ₹15,000 from the executant. The entire bribe money was recovered and seized from the possession of Das, JE, in the presence of witnesses,' said a senior Vigilance official.

Following the trap, simultaneous searches were conducted at Das's rented residential premises in Cuttack and her office in Jagatsinghpur. She has been arrested and is set to be produced before a court on Saturday, 20 June.

Separate Raids Expose Crores in Disproportionate Assets

In a separate operation on the same day, Vigilance sleuths unearthed movable and immovable assets reportedly worth crores during simultaneous searches at properties linked to Satyanarayan Sethy, Assistant Executive Engineer (AEE), Kotpada Block, Koraput district, on allegations of possessing assets disproportionate to his known sources of income.

The assets uncovered include two flats (one benami), two farmhouses spanning 14 acres, 49 valuable plots (17 benami), gold weighing approximately 940 grams, silver weighing around 2.5 kg, cash of ₹5.48 lakh, deposits exceeding ₹60.92 lakh, and one benami four-wheeler, among other assets.

Pattern of Vigilance Action in Odisha

Friday's dual operations underscore a sustained crackdown by Odisha Vigilance on corruption within the state's public works and engineering departments. Bribe-trap operations targeting junior and mid-level government engineers have been a recurring feature of the agency's enforcement calendar, reflecting persistent vulnerability at the estimate-and-work-order stage of public infrastructure projects. The Sethy case, in particular, signals that the agency is also pursuing longer-term asset-trail investigations alongside immediate trap operations.

Further legal proceedings against both accused are expected to unfold over the coming days.