Baripada, Jan 5: Odisha Vigilance officials on Monday arrested two engineers of the Odisha Lift Irrigation Corporation’s Udala Sub-Division in Mayurbhanj district for allegedly demanding and accepting a bribe of Rs 60,000 from a contractor, officials said.

The arrested officials have been identified as Assistant Executive Engineer Harekrushna Singh and Junior Engineer Subrat Mohanty.

According to vigilance sources, the duo had demanded an overall bribe of Rs 1.1 lakh—calculated at 4.5% of the pending bill amount—to release withheld payments and security deposits. The contractor had completed projects worth Rs 25 lakh, but the officials allegedly withheld nearly Rs 5 lakh, including 20% of the bill and 5% of the security deposit.

The bribe was reportedly divided between the two officers, with Singh’s share fixed at Rs 32,000 and Mohanty’s at Rs 28,000. Acting on a complaint lodged by the contractor, vigilance sleuths laid a trap and caught the officials red-handed while accepting the instalment payment.

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Following the arrest, simultaneous searches were conducted at Singh’s two properties and Mohanty’s three properties to detect assets disproportionate to their known sources of income.

A case has been registered at Balasore Vigilance Police Station under Case No. 1/2026, invoking Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act, 2018. Officials said that further investigation is underway to assess the scale of irregularities.