Rourkela: Two RTO Staffers Nabbed by Odisha Vigilance for Taking Rs 26 thousand Bribe

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Rourkela: Odisha Vigilance on Tuesday apprehended two staffers of the RTO, Rourkela for allegedly demanding and accepting a bribe of Rs 26,000 for processing fresh registration certificates of two auctioned trucks.

The arrested have been identified as Niranjan Sandha, Dealing Clerk-cum-Night Watcher, and Dharmendra Kumar Behera, IT Executive, both posted at the Office of the RTO, Rourkela.

According to Vigilance, the complainant had recently purchased two trucks through auction from IndusInd Bank after the previous owner defaulted on loan repayment. As per rules of the Transport Department, he applied for Fresh Registration Certificate (FRC) for both vehicles at the RTO, Rourkela.

Despite repeated requests, Sandha allegedly did not process the applications. Instead, he demanded Rs 13,000 per truck, totaling Rs 26,000, to facilitate the issuance of FRCs.

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Aggrieved, the truck owner lodged a complaint with Vigilance. Acting on the complaint, an Odisha Vigilance team laid a trap and nabbed both Sandha and Behera while they were accepting the bribe from the complainant. The entire tainted bribe amount of Rs 26,000 was recovered and seized from their possession.

Following the trap, simultaneous searches are being conducted at three locations linked to Sandha from the disproportionate assets (DA) angle.

A case has been registered at Rourkela Vigilance PS Case No.07 dated 05.08.2026 under Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act, 2018. Investigation against the duo is underway.

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