Bhubaneswar, June 24: In a major anti-corruption operation, Odisha Vigilance officials on Wednesday apprehended Prasanna Kumar Pattnaik, Executive Engineer of Rural Works Division-I (RWD-I), Rayagada, while allegedly accepting a bribe of ₹2 lakh from a contractor.

According to Vigilance sources, Pattnaik had allegedly demanded the bribe in exchange for clearing pending bills related to completed works and issuing a work experience certificate required by the contractor to participate in upcoming tenders and secure new government contracts.

The contractor had reportedly been requesting the Executive Engineer for the certificate for some time. Vigilance officials said Pattnaik initially demanded ₹2.5 lakh, allegedly calculating the amount as five per cent of bills worth around ₹50 lakh that had been cleared. Following negotiations, he allegedly reduced the demand to ₹2 lakh after the contractor expressed his inability to pay the higher amount.

Unable to bear the pressure, the contractor approached Odisha Vigilance and lodged a complaint. Acting on the information, a Vigilance team laid a trap and caught Pattnaik red-handed while accepting the bribe amount. The entire tainted cash of ₹2 lakh was recovered from his possession and seized as evidence.

Following the arrest, simultaneous searches were conducted at his government quarters and office in Rayagada, his residence in Bhubaneswar, and his ancestral house in Nayagarh. During the searches, Vigilance officials recovered an additional ₹3.39 lakh in cash from his government quarters, taking the total cash seizure to ₹5.39 lakh.

Further investigation is underway. Notably, Pattnaik was scheduled to retire from service on June 30, 2026.

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