Husband of Sarpanch arrested by vigilance on graft charge

The husband of a village panchayat sarpanch in Odisha's Sambalpur district was arrested by anti-corruption vigilance wing for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 8,000 from a person to pursue his wife for processing work order file for construction of pakka houses.
Vigilance sleuths laid a trap and caught Kalakanhu Mirdha, husband of Chandini Mirdha, Sarpanch of Badmal Gram Panchayat, yesterday while accepting Rs 8,000 bribe from the complainant Pradeep Kumar Biswal for processing of work order in favour of his wife, a vigilance release said.
Complainant Biswal alleged that construction of Biju Pakka Ghara was approved in favor of his wife Sanjukta Biswal. He requested to accused Mirdha to pursue his Sarpanch wife for processing the file in the matter of issue of work order for construction of Biju Pakka Ghara which had already been approved in the name Sanjukta, it said

Accused Mirdha demanded Rs 10,000 for the above purpose. Mirdha had received Rs 2,000 as advance for this purpose. Then he reported the matter to Vigilance July 26.
During investigation a trap was laid and Mirdha was arrested while receiving Rs 8,000 bribe from the complainant inside the premises of Panchayat Office, Redhakhol. The investigation is in progress.