BHUBANESWAR: The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) has an uncanny knack for courting controversies. On Friday, the Vigilance nabbed an executive engineer of the civic body allegedly accepting Rs. 50,000 bribe from a contractor. Sarbeswar Jena, Executive Engineer of Division-I, had allegedly demanded Rs.60,000 from contractor Rashmi Kanta Das but when the latter resisted, he settled for Rs.50,000. The BMC engineer was allegedly accepting the cash in his office chamber when he was held by a five-member team of the Bhubaneswar Division of State Vigilance, led by DSP Purushottam Sethi. Investigation revealed that Das had participated in a tender invited by the BMC for roadworks in Wards 12, 15 and 20. When the bids were opened, he was the L1 (lowest) bidder and his offer was set to be accepted by the Corporation but Jena allegedly demanded Rs. 60,000 to process the tender file. The contractor tried to pursue the matter but Jena was adamant. After the executive engineer insisted on at least Rs. 50,000, Das agreed to pay but reported the matter to the Vigilance on Thursday. A trap was laid and the executive engineer walked right into it. Sethi and his team of four inspectors immediately entered the chamber and seized the cash. The Vigilance team was conducting a search on his residence and office to ascertain the assets accumulated by the executive engineer. A case has been lodged and investigation is on.
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