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The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Friday arrested a Port Health Organization(PHO) Officer at Odisha's Paradip Port for accepting a bribe of Rs 50,000 from a crew of a shipping company for issuing health certificates, said officials.
The accused, Dr. Rajendra Narayan Panigrahi, was caught yesterday red-handed while accepting the bribe. The subsequent raids at his premises resulted in the recovery of assets amounting to over one crore. Cash in Indian and foreign currency was seized from him. The main function of the PHO, which is functioning under the Central government, is to provide COVID clearance certificates to those coming from other countries. Panigrahi is accused of taking bribes for giving these clearance certificates. He allegedly issued many such certificates by taking bribes. The crews of Eminence Shipping Agencies approached the CBI after Panigrahi demanded bribe from them for the certificate. Then the CBI sleuths set a trap for him in which he was caught red-handed. Huge amount of currency in dollars, imported liquors and cigarettes, hard discs and other important documents were seized in the raids which were conducted at his ancestral house in Balasore, his residence in Cuttack, his office in Paradip, his quarters at J B Colony and his rented house in the Housing Colony. (ANI)
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