2019 OCS exam topper, 2 other govt staffers arrested by Odisha vigilance in separate cases over bribery charges

Bhubaneswar: Vigilance officials on Friday arrested Aswini Kumar Panda (33), who had topped the Odisha Civil Services (OCS) exam in his first attempt in 2019, for allegedly accepting Rs 15,000 bribe in a land mutation case.Panda, an Odisha Administrative Service (OAS) officer serving as tehsildar at Bamra in Sambalpur district, was accused of demanding Rs 20,000 from a landowner to convert his agricultural land into a homestead plot.The landowner alleged that Panda reduced the bribe amount to Rs 15,000 after he expressed financial inability.“Acting on the complaint, we laid a trap and caught Panda’s office driver, P Praveen Kumar, red-handed while collecting the bribe on Panda’s behalf in his office. Both Panda and Kumar were subsequently arrested,” vigilance SP (Sambalpur), P K Dwibedi, said.During searches at three properties linked to Panda, anti-corruption officials allegedly found Rs 4.73 lakh in cash at his residence in the upscale Jayadev Vihar area of Bhubaneswar, along with gold jewellery and land-related documents. Investigations into his bank deposits and other investments are underway. “We are verifying whether he has accumulated disproportionate assets,” the vigilance official said.Panda, who had failed to pass an assistant section officer (ASO) recruitment test before clearing the OAS exam, began his career as a training reserve officer (TRO) on Dec 30, 2021 in the office of the Balasore district collector. He was appointed as tehsildar at Shamakhunta in Mayurbhanj district in June 2023, before being transferred to Bamra in Sambalpur in July this year.In separate operations, vigilance also arrested Nayagarh district labour officer Chittaranjan Rout and Puspita Mahakud, a former panchayat executive officer (PEO) of Luhasila gram panchayat in Mayurbhanj district. Mahakud, who is currently posted in the office of sub-collector in Mayurbhanj district, was apprehended on charges of embezzling old age pension funds amounting to Rs 5,68,950.Rout was arrested for allegedly accepting Rs 6,000 bribe from a labourer. Rout allegedly demanded the bribe to issue labour cards to the complainant and 19 others, causing a delay of nearly a year in the issuance of cards. Following a recent complaint, vigilance sleuths arrested Rout while he was accepting the bribe.