Tangarpalli and lephripara Tehsildar Ranjan Kumar Parida was caught red-handed by Vigilance sleuth while taking bribe of Rs 20,000 from Bijay Sharma, a resident of Tangarpalli on Tuesday evening.
Sharma had filed a writ petition in High Court to construct the proposed Sundargarh-MCl bypass road via Ujjalapur on the backside of the Hanuman Temple situated near his house. The High Court asked the tehsildar to give para-wise comments on the petition.
When Sharma contacted the tehsildar with court direction to give a favourable report, the tehsildar demanded Rs 20,000. Sharma contacted Vigilance officers and, accordingly, a trap was organised. While on Tuesday Sharma was paying the bribe to Parida near his official residence, the vigilance officials trapped him. On Wednesday, the tehsildar was forwarded to Sambalpur Vigilance court.