Bhubaneswar, Nov 6 (IANS) Continuing its crackdown on corrupt government officials, the Odisha vigilance on Friday nabbed a woman Odisha Revenue Services (ORS) officer while taking a bribe from a vendee to allow registration of a sale deed of a landed plot as Bajyapti stithiban.

The accused official, identified as Miss Manisha Mishra, ORS, is presently posted as Sub-Registrar at Baliapal in Baleshwar district. The accused Sub-Registrar allegedly demanded Rs 10,000 from the complainant for allowing registration of the sale deed. However, when the vendee expressed his inability to pay the amount, she reduced the bribe demand to Rs 7,000, according to a Vigilance statement.

The complainant had approached her seeking registration of a 0.14-acre plot of land recorded as ‘Bajyapti Stithiban’. As per the guidelines issued by the Revenue and Disaster Management (R&DM) Department, land of this category is to be treated as Stithiban and is eligible for registration.

Despite repeated requests by the vendee, the accused officer allegedly refused to act on the basis of the department’s guidelines and insisted on payment of the bribe. Aggrieved by the demand and unable to meet it, the complainant approached the Odisha Vigilance authorities and reported the alleged harassment.

Acting on his complaint, a Vigilance team laid a trap and apprehended Mishra while she was accepting Rs 7,000 from the complainant on Friday. The entire tainted bribe amount was recovered from her possession and seized by the Vigilance team.

Following the trap, simultaneous searches have been launched at two locations linked to the accused officer to investigate allegations of possession of assets disproportionate to her known sources of income.

In this connection, a case (26/2026) has been registered at the Baleshwar Vigilance Police Station under Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act, 2018.

The Odisha Vigilance also added that further investigation into the case is underway. Mishra joined government service in 2024 and was serving at Baliapal as a probationary Sub-Registrar.

–IANS

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