New Delhi, Apr 15 (IANS): The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Saturday arrested an assistant engineer of the Postal Department for allegedly demanding and accepting bribe for himself and an executive engineer of the department.

A senior CBI official said that accused Subasish Pal Assistant Engineer (Civil), Postal Civil Sub Division, Sambalpur (Odisha), demanded a bribe of Rs 1.22 lakh for himself along with Rs 18,500 for an Executive Engineer (Civil) for releasing a due payment of Rs 3.77 lakh of a contractor.

Another contractor, who received bribe amount of Rs 18,500 from the assistant engineer on behalf of the executive engineer, was also arrested.

The CBI registered the case against the accused assistant engineer on the allegations that the victim contractor was issued a work order in December 2021 for the work of repair and maintenance of Postal Staff Quarters at New P&T Colony, Rourkela and in pursuance of which, he completed the works amounting to Rs 19.47 lakh.

"It was further alleged that against the said contract, Rs. 1.77 lakh was withheld for delay in execution and Rs 2 lakh was withheld for test check. For releasing the withheld amount of Rs 3.77 lakh, Pal allegedly demanded a bribe of Rs 1.5 lakh for himself and another Rs 18,500 for Debandra Kumar Puhan the executive engineer," said the CBI.

Later upon negotiation, the accused agreed to receive the bribe of Rs 1,22,000 for himself and Rs 18,500 for the executive engineer.

The CBI laid a trap and caught the accused for demanding and accepting the bribe.

Searches were conducted at the premises of accused including at Bhubnaswer, Sambalpur, Patna and others, which led to the recovery of certain incriminating documents.

The arrested accused will be produced before the Competent Court at Bhubnaswer on Saturday.