Junior Clerk in Koraput Caught Red-Handed Taking Bribe for Arrear Salary of Deceased Teacher
Koraput, August 5, 2025 – In a significant anti-corruption operation, Odisha Vigilance today apprehended Sri Sambit Tripathy, Junior Clerk, Office of the Block Education Officer (BEO), Nandapur, Koraput district, while he was accepting a bribe of ₹15,000, the first installment of a total ₹30,000 demanded.The bribe was allegedly taken in exchange for processing the arrear salary and revised pension/gratuity benefits of a deceased Primary School Teacher, who had passed away on October 27, 2019, while in service. His widow, an elderly woman, had been surviving solely on her family pension since his demise.On June 11, 2025, the competent authority sanctioned the drawl of revised pension and gratuity. However, instead of processing the file, Sri Tripathy demanded a bribe of ₹30,000 to initiate action on the pension, gratuity, RACP/MACP benefits, and to credit the amount to the widow’s account.Acting on a complaint about harassment faced by the pensioner, Odisha Vigilance laid a trap and caught Sri Tripathy red-handed while accepting ₹15,000 in bribe.
The entire tainted amount was recovered from his possession and seized as evidence.Following the trap, simultaneous searches are being conducted at two locations linked to Sri Tripathy to investigate assets disproportionate to his known sources of income.A case has been registered under Koraput Vigilance PS Case No. 26 dated 05.08.2025 under Section 7 of the PC (Amendment) Act, 2018. The investigation is ongoing.
