Puri Excise Mobile Inspector arrested for taking graft

Puri: Odisha Vigilance detained Excise Inspector Sanjay Panda of the Puri mobile excise squad on Thursday on suspicion of taking a Rs 18,000 bribe from a guy in exchange for submitting a Case Diary.

Panda was caught red-handed soliciting and taking the money on Wednesday.

Following the trap, a disproportionate assets aspect was used to conduct simultaneous searches at two sites, including his government quarters and paternal house. A case was also filed against the accused in accordance with Section 7 of the PC Amendment Act of 2018.

Previously, in June 2022, Panda accused his superiors of malfeasance and said that Puri district police officers stole money from numerous excise violators. He had also filed a complaint with the Vigilance Department against his superiors, including Excise Superintendent (SI) Amerendra Jena.

He later apologized in a video and claimed to be a patient suffering from mental illness. He further stated that his remarks on the police-mafia connection were inadvertent and requested an apology for the 'slip of tongue'.

"Due to Covid, I had lost my mental balance and was getting treatment. I had stopped taking my meds for the past month. As a result, I began to have such mental disorders and made such accusations against the police department," he claimed in the video.

Meanwhile, there is speculation that Panda was framed in response to his earlier complaints against seniors.