Angul: Odisha Vigilance arrested Medical Officer of Kaniha Community Health Centre (CHC) in Angul district, Dr Sumanta Kumar Patel, after he was allegedly caught accepting a bribe of Rs 49,000 on Friday.
The arrest took place inside the CHC campus shortly after the trap was laid.
According to Vigilance sources, Dr Patel had demanded the illegal gratification from several Community Health Officers (CHOs) in exchange for sanctioning and releasing their incentive payments. The NHM scheme provides eligible CHOs up to Rs 15,000 per month as incentive payments. However, Dr Patel is accused of illegally demanding around Rs 3,000 from each CHO to process and release these entitled funds.
The operation followed a complaint lodged by the affected CHOs, who reportedly pooled the funds to meet the demand. A total of around 16 CHOs were involved in coordinating with the anti-corruption team to execute the trap successfully. The entire amount of tainted bribe money was recovered from his possession and seized as evidence.
Immediately after the arrest, Vigilance teams launched simultaneous searches at three locations connected to Dr Patel to investigate possible disproportionate assets (DA). These include his government quarters at Kaniha, his wife’s rented residence in Rourkela, and his office chamber at the CHC.
A case has been registered against him at Cuttack Vigilance police station under Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act, 2018 and further investigation is underway.
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