Jajpur Excise Superintendent Abhaya Panjar Sahoo and the district’s Dharmasala Excise Sub-Inspector Manoj Kumar Barik were arrested in a bribery case on Monday.
They were caught red-handed by Vigilance sleuths for demanding and accepting Rs 40,000 from Sanjay Kumar Singh of Pattarajpur village under the Balichandrapur police station for renewal of licence of his foreign liquor shop with promise to help him in future.
Singh had applied for renewal of his licence and the accused Sahoo renewed it on March 31 and demanded Rs 50,000 as reward. But Singh requested Sahoo to reduce the amount. Sahoo later reduced it to Rs 40,000. Finding no other alternative, Singh reported the matter to the Vigilance.
A trap was laid on Monday. On the direction of Sahoo, Excise Sub-Inspector Barik received the bribe. The residential house of Sahoo at Cuttack and the house of Barik located at Paralakhemundi were searched.
Notably, Sahoo is also an accused in a Baleswar Vigilance case registered for possession of disproportionate assets.