Retired forest officer sentenced to 4 years of rigorous imprisonment for taking bribe in Berhampur

Berhampur: Special vigilance court, Berhampur, on Tuesday sentenced a 64-year-old retired forest range officer to four year of rigorous imprisonment for taking bribe of Rs 30,000 from a carpenter, about nine years ago.Vigilance judge Gyanendra Kumar Barik has also slapped a Rs 20,000 fine on the convict, Kishore Kumar Nayak. He will undergo another eight months jail, if he fails to pay the fine amount. The court has awarded the sentence to Nayak after recording the statement of 9 witnesses and verifying related documents, said special public prosecutor Surendra Panda.Panda said the vigilance sleuths had trapped Nayak while taking bribe from the complainant on February 19, 2016 at the range office, Digapahandi, where he was working as a range officer. The entire money was seized by the anti-corruption agency.Panda said another vigilance case was pending against Nayak in connection with his alleged possession of the ill-gotten money. Vigilance registered a case against him in 2015 for possessing disproportionate assets beyond his known sources of income after they raided his houses.